Two leading figures from the private rented sector have slammed the ongoing nightmare many landlords are facing when waiting for evictions to pass through the courts.

Both Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, and Marcus Selmon (pictured), founder of the Portfolio Landlords Action Network, say delays have now reached ridiculous levels.

Selmon says the situation has got the point where the under-resourced courts system is effectively “not processing landlords claims”.

He is particularly frustrated by the recently-established call centre set up by the Government to handle queries about evictions on behalf of the main courts, which is currently telling landlords it will respond to requests for information within “at least 40 working days” Selmon adds: “Try phoning and see how easy it is to get through. It’s not.

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“And they helpfully tell you that if you chase them by email then the original one will be deleted.

“This will be, and already is far more painful for landlords than Section 21 being abolished because evictions are taking many months to process, and landlords are in limbo not knowing what is going on with their case while the tenant falls further into arrears or causes more damage.

“Of course, some cases will get processed but at what speed?”.

Paul Shamplina (pictured) agrees. He says that trying get through by phone to most courts is a nightmare, and that Landlord Action now has a full-time employee tasked with doing this every day, such is the challenge.

“But while court dates are getting easier to book in, nailing down evictions dates remains a big problem and we’ve got some landlords waiting between six and 12 months for eviction dates alone.

“Also, let’s remember that when Section 21 evictions are abolished, all these problems will become amplified.”

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