Writs of Possession and removal of the occupier goods

Background

We often get instructed by solicitors and claimants that ask us to take possession of property and land and remove the occupiers goods.

Most claimants are surprised to find that the scope of the writ is simply to remove people from the land and therefore give vacant possession. This practice stems from how the county court bailiffs deal with this issue.

Under County Courts Act 1984 section 111 (1)

“For the purpose of executing a warrant to give possession of any premises, it shall not be necessary to remove any goods from those premises”.

This is backed up by case law Norwich Union Life Insurance Society v. Preston.

Vacant Possession is given by the High Court Enforcement Officer once all persons are removed from the property.

Removal of Goods inside

The goods inside are covered by Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. This also includes dogs and other animals.

This makes the landlord an Involuntary Bailee through no fault of their own and puts them in the position where they are responsible for these goods until they are returned to the rightful owner.

If another person, such as the landlord or their agent, sells or disposes of those goods without going through the correct procedure then the tenant or previous occupier can sue them for conversion, trespass, or negligence.

There are a few courses of action a landlord can take, and it would always be best to take legal advice from a suitably qualified person.

One way, if the landlord is not wanting to deduct monies owed from the proceeds is to allow the tenant or previous occupier to remove their goods, therefore removing the problem.

A landlord or their agent can serve in the prescribed manner a notice under Section 12 of Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. The Notice should include a reasonable time frame to collect the items and how to make contact. The notice should also contain a description of the goods or have an inventory attached.

If they ask for this access within the notice period, then they should be given supervised access to collect their goods. If they fail to apply to remove their goods within this time, then subject to legal advice the landlord can sell them by auction if they are worth anything or dispose of them if they are worthless. All details of the disposal should be kept with a detailed account of what happened to them.

The High Court Enforcement Officer may be able to help with an extra service by serving the notices, completing an inventory and where required providing supervised access to the tenant or previous occupier.

For further information visit our Property Eviction service.

About the author

This article was written by Andrew Coates, Authorised High Court Enforcement Officer and full member of The High Court Enforcement Officers Association, and current CEO of Quality Bailiffs.

Andy has a Level 4 diploma in High Court Enforcement, and over twenty five years of experience in the bailiff and investigation industry. He is a former governing council member of both CIVEA and ABI.

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