Applying to court for possession
Last updated 8 April 2024 - Court fees increasing in May
Introduction
Once your notice period has finished, if the contract-holders remain in the property, your next step will be to apply to court for a possession order.
Depending on the type of notice served, you may apply for a possession order under the accelerated procedure, by filing a request for a hearing using the correct forms, or by applying online using Possession Claim Online.
To help with this, the NRLA has produced some guidance on applying for a possession order.
Warning
At the time of writing, not all of the available routes to court are working in Wales. This makes it more difficult to apply to court. Similarly, a number of the prescribed forms have potentially misleading explanatory information included on them.
With that in mind, while we have produced this guidance we would strongly recommend you employ a solicitor or an eviction specialist. Especially if you are seeking possession on a contract that began before 1st December 2022.
Court fees set to increase from 8 April 2025
The Government is set to increase court fees in line with CPI, with the majority of the fees changing by around 3.2%.
The expectation was that these changes would take effect on 1 April 2025, however, in the end the prices will now increase on the 8 April 2025.
For possession claims this means that fees will increase to -
- £404 for making a possession claim (was £391)
- £148 for applying for a warrant of possession (was £143)
- £313 for a general application on notice (N244) (was £303)
- £119 for a general application by consent/without notice (N244) (was £119)
The rest of this page provides information on which court forms to use after you have served notice. The page also has some resources on completing these court forms.
N5B Completion Notes
The NRLA has produced completion notes to help you fill out the latest version of this document. Please download it below and follow the instructions within.
Completion notes for the accelerated claim form (N5B) in Wales