Eviction costfree, in seconds

Landlords budget for the court fee and are then surprised by the bill. The fee is the smallest line on it. HMCTS raised its rates on 13 July 2026: a possession claim now costs £415 to issue, and a warrant of possession executed by a county court bailiff costs £152. Transferring the case up for High Court enforcement, which is faster, typically pushes past £1,000. Those are real numbers, and together they are usually a fraction of what the process actually costs you.

The expensive part is the rent that never arrives. It has two components and they compound. There are the arrears already owed when you start, and there is every month of rent you do not receive between issuing the claim and getting the property back. On a £1,200 rent, a case that takes six months from issue to possession costs £7,200 in lost rent on top of whatever was already outstanding. No saving on the process gets close to that, which is why the single most valuable thing you can do is act early on arrears rather than optimise the claim.

Since Section 21 was abolished in May 2026, possession runs entirely through Section 8 grounds, and that has changed the arithmetic. The accelerated paper-only route that made no-fault claims relatively quick is gone for new claims. A Section 8 claim is a hearing, which means a listing date, which means the timeline depends on your local court’s capacity rather than on how well you completed the form. Ground 8, the mandatory arrears ground, is still the strongest route where the arrears threshold is met at both service and hearing.

Whether to use a solicitor is a genuine judgement rather than an obvious answer. A straightforward undefended arrears claim is within reach of a competent landlord and the document packs available make it cheaper. A defended claim, a disrepair counterclaim, an HMO, or any procedural defect in how the tenancy was set up all change that calculation quickly, because a claim thrown out on a technicality means starting again and paying the fee twice. Budget £1,500 to £3,000 for representation on a contested case.

One last thing worth being clear-eyed about: a money judgment for arrears is only worth what you can actually recover. Winning the order and enforcing it are different exercises, and a tenant who could not pay the rent frequently cannot pay the judgment either. Treat the arrears as largely unrecoverable when you make the decision, and you will make a better one. Rent guarantee insurance covers a good deal of this, but only where it was in force before the arrears began.