The key to change

IN BRIEF • Four out of five people facing eviction may receive no legal help. • A “one-stop” advice shop should be available before the hearing. • There needs to be more “eye-catching” information to encourage defendants to attend court. Following our report on the housing possession process which raised questions concerning whether there is effective access to justice (see “Losing a home”, NLJ, 20 June 2014, p 16), we held a seminar to discuss the issues raised. Key actors involved in the possession process—judges, housing advisers, claimant representatives, policy makers, court administrators—imagined how the process might be improved. There were two key themes that emerged. The first focused around the low levels of defendant participation in possession cases: notwithstanding the fact that the home is under threat, many defendants do not receive legal advice and do not actively participate in the court process. This matters not only because of the importance of participation to procedural justice, but also because of its impact on outcome. Research suggests that there is a relationship between attendance and more favourable decisions to the defendant. The second area of interest was on eviction by private landlords. This is highly topical as the government has established a working party “to examine proposals to speed up the process of evicting during a tenancy tenants who do not pay rent promptly or fail to meet other contractual obligations”