Warrant of possession

The document that actually authorises bailiffs to physically evict a tenant — a separate, later step from the possession order itself, and easily confused with the very differently-purposed warrant of control.

Is a warrant of possession the same as a warrant of control?

No, and confusing the two is one of the most common mistakes people make. A warrant of possession enforces an order to hand back a property — it sends bailiffs to evict an occupier. A warrant of control enforces a money judgment by letting enforcement agents take control of goods and sell them. They come from different applications, use different forms, and do completely different things, even though both involve bailiffs turning up.

Does getting a possession order mean the eviction happens automatically?

No. A possession order only sets a date by which the occupier must leave. If they do not leave by that date, the landlord has to take a further, separate step — applying for a warrant of possession — before any bailiff can attend. Nothing happens automatically between the order and the warrant.

How much notice will I get before bailiffs come to evict me?

Once a warrant is issued, the court sends a notice of eviction giving a minimum notice period before the appointment date, using form N54, and separately notifies the landlord of the date and time on form EX96. Always check the specific date and time stated on your own notice rather than relying on a general rule, and act well before it if you intend to apply to suspend the warrant — do not wait until the last few days.

Can I stop the eviction if I've since paid off the arrears?

You can apply to the court to suspend the warrant, and having cleared or offered to clear arrears since the order was made is one of the most common grounds. Whether the court agrees depends heavily on whether the underlying possession order was made on a discretionary ground or a mandatory one, and on the history of the case — it is not automatic. This must normally be done before the eviction date; a court generally cannot unwind a warrant once it has already been carried out.

Can my landlord change the locks once they have a possession order?

No. A possession order, and even a warrant of possession that has been applied for, does not give a landlord the right to remove a tenant themselves. Only bailiffs or High Court enforcement officers acting under an issued warrant or writ can lawfully carry out the eviction. A landlord who changes the locks, removes belongings, or otherwise forces an occupier out themselves is at serious risk of committing illegal eviction, which is a criminal offence as well as giving rise to a civil claim.

What should I do if the eviction date is very close and I have not acted yet?

Act immediately — this is not a situation to leave until the last moment. If you have grounds to ask the court to suspend the warrant, file the application notice as soon as possible, since courts generally cannot help once bailiffs have already carried out the eviction. If you are at real risk of losing your home imminently, it is also sensible to contact a housing charity such as Shelter or your local Citizens Advice, or seek emergency legal aid advice, alongside anything you do yourself.

Why the warrant is a separate step from the possession order

gets a landlord an order, not an eviction. A possession order simply records that the court is satisfied the landlord is entitled to possession, and it sets a date by which the occupier must leave. If the occupier leaves by that date, nothing further needs to happen. If they do not, the order does not enforce itself — the landlord has to go back to court and apply for a

warrant of possession

, a distinct instruction that authorises bailiffs to attend and physically remove the occupier.

This two-stage structure exists for a reason. It keeps the decision of whether someone should be evicted (made by a judge, weighing the ground and any defence) separate from the mechanics of actually carrying it out (done by court staff, on a fixed and notified timetable). It also gives an occupier a further, final opportunity to raise something with the court — a change of circumstances, an arguable defect, exceptional hardship — before the physical eviction happens, rather than only at the original hearing.

Applying for the warrant: form N325

A landlord applies for a warrant of possession in the county court using

(Request for Warrant of Possession of Land), sent to the court that made the possession order, together with the application fee published in the HMCTS EX50 fee schedule — check the current figure on gov.uk before applying, as court fees change periodically. Where the original order was a

possession order made on rent arrears grounds — meaning possession was only to take effect if the tenant broke the terms of a payment plan — the landlord instead uses the related

, which asks the court to confirm the tenant has breached those terms before a warrant is issued.

The application is normally made without giving the tenant advance notice at this stage. Once the court issues the warrant, it allocates a bailiff's appointment and notifies both sides of the date, rather than the landlord simply choosing when enforcement happens.

The notice of eviction: what the occupier is told, and when

Once a warrant of possession is issued and a bailiff's appointment allocated, the court sends the occupier a

on form N54, giving advance written notice of the date fixed for the eviction, and separately tells the landlord the date and time on form EX96. This notice period exists precisely so an occupier is not simply confronted by bailiffs with no warning, and so that there is a real, calendared window in which to apply to the court if there are grounds to challenge or delay the eviction.

Because eviction notice periods and the surrounding rules have been the subject of periodic government review and consultation, always treat the date and any notice period stated on the actual paperwork in a given case as the figure that matters, and check current gov.uk guidance rather than relying on a number remembered from an earlier case or an out-of-date source. What does not change is the underlying principle: there is always a notified date, and it is always fixed in advance of the bailiff's attendance, not on the day.

Transferring enforcement to the High Court

In some circumstances a possession order made in the county court can instead be enforced through the High Court, by a

carried out by High Court Enforcement Officers rather than county court bailiffs. High Court enforcement officers work for authorised private firms rather than HM Courts & Tribunals Service, and this route is often quicker in practice once permission is granted, because it does not sit in the same bailiff appointment queue as county court warrants.

For an ordinary residential eviction of a tenant, though, this is not a route a landlord can simply choose. Under

section 42(2) of the County Courts Act 1984

, transferring a residential possession order up to the High Court and issuing a writ of possession requires the

permission of the court

, and the court must generally be satisfied there are

exceptional circumstances

justifying the transfer — this is not granted routinely simply because a landlord wants a faster bailiff. Permission will also not normally be given unless every person in actual occupation of the property has been given sufficient notice of the transfer application to allow them to apply to the court for relief if they have grounds to. Anyone told their eviction is being moved to the High Court is entitled to that notice, and can raise objections at that stage.

Applying to suspend or stay a warrant

A tenant or other occupier facing a warrant of possession can apply to the court to

application notice, form N244

, setting out the grounds and, where relevant, a witness statement with supporting evidence. Common grounds include that arrears the order was based on have since been paid off or a realistic new payment offer has been made, that there was a procedural defect in how the possession order or the warrant itself was obtained, or that carrying out the eviction now would cause exceptional hardship.

How much scope there is to succeed depends heavily on what kind of ground the original possession order rested on. Where the order was made on a

— courts generally have wider scope to suspend on terms, particularly on rent arrears cases where a workable payment plan is offered. Where the order was made on a

ground, the court's room to intervene is much narrower, and suspension, if granted at all, tends to buy only a short additional period rather than reopen the underlying decision.

Timing is critical. This application should normally be made

before the eviction date

set out in the notice of eviction. A court generally has no power to unwind a warrant that has already been executed — once bailiffs have carried out the eviction, an application to suspend it comes too late to help with that specific eviction, whatever its merits might otherwise have been.

What happens once the warrant is executed

Once bailiffs (or High Court enforcement officers under a writ) attend and carry out the eviction, that is the end of the formal enforcement process for that occupier — they must leave, and possession of the property passes back to the landlord. Crucially, executing the warrant is something only bailiffs or enforcement officers can lawfully do. A landlord, letting agent, or anyone acting on the landlord's behalf cannot lawfully carry out the eviction themselves — by changing the locks, removing the occupier's belongings, cutting off utilities to force them out, or any similar self-help measure — at any point in this process, including after a warrant has been applied for but before it is executed. Doing so is

under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, a criminal offence as well as a civil wrong, regardless of how clearly the landlord believes they are in the right.

A tenant fell into rent arrears, and the landlord obtained a possession order on the arrears ground. Because the arrears were below the level that made the ground mandatory, the court suspended the order on terms — the tenant could stay provided they cleared the arrears through a fixed monthly payment plan alongside the ongoing rent. For several months this worked. Then the tenant lost overtime hours at work, missed two consecutive payments under the plan, and the arrears began climbing again.

on payment-plan terms

2 consecutive months

Landlord's application

Warrant issued, eviction date notified

Because the tenant had broken the terms of the suspended order, the landlord applied for a warrant of possession on form N325A. The court issued the warrant, allocated a bailiff's appointment, and sent the tenant a notice of eviction with the date. By the time the notice arrived, the tenant had picked up extra shifts and paid enough to bring the arrears back within the terms originally set. She urgently completed form N244, explaining what had changed and enclosing evidence of the payments and a revised, realistic offer for the remaining balance, and filed it with the court well before the date fixed for the eviction.

Whether the court grants the suspension depends on its assessment of the whole history — how genuine and sustainable the new payment offer looks, and how the case has gone overall — not simply on the fact that an application was made. What is certain is that filing after the eviction date had already passed would have been too late for the court to help with that appointment, which is why acting the moment the notice of eviction arrived, rather than closer to the date itself, mattered.

Civil Procedure Rules, Part 83

Protection from Eviction Act 1977

County Courts Act 1984, section 42

If tenants do not follow a possession order

Form N325 — Request for warrant of possession of land

Form N244 — Application notice

EX50 — civil and family court fees

Warrant of Possession — Renters' Rights Glossary

What a warrant of possession is, how it differs from a warrant of control, the N325 application, eviction notice periods, and how to apply to suspend one.