Planned changes by the Government to increase court fees for owners looking to possess their property from tenants have been labelled as “extortionate” by Landlord Action.

The changes which will take effect on the 22nd April 2014 will see court fees relating to Section 8 (PCOL) claims and Accelerated (S21) claims increase by almost 60%.

Paul Shamplina, Director of Landlord Action, said: “Are the Courts going to employ additional staff to warrant this massive price increase so that landlords are at least getting a more efficient service, such as an earlier hearing date on a Section 8 claim, or a Possession Order following a Request for Possession on a Section 21 case within two weeks rather than six?

“The rises are ludicrous and will have a huge impact on those landlords and letting agents that find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to start eviction proceedings. Landlords who are seeking possession of their property are usually already in financial difficulty due to rent arrears or damage to their property, so increasing the cost of fighting this battle, and by such a significant jump, seems wholly unfair.”

The current cost for an application for possession, which is used after service of a section 8 notice, is £175, the same as an accelerated possession claim used after service of a section 21 notice. From 22nd April, this will increase to £280.

The possession claim online (PCOL) service, which can only be used after a section 8 notice on rent arrears grounds, currently has a substantially discounted fee of £100. This will rise by 150% to £250, making the discount for using the online system significantly less appealing.

The Government has stated: “the benefits brought by a simplified approach with a fee which reflects the average cost of issuing such proceedings justifies the change.”

Landlord Action have said however that as a result of little public warning of the planned rises, it could spark a stampede of possession cases in the next two weeks from landlords trying to beat the rises. The only fee which is not rising is the warrant of possession when a bailiff is required, which remains at £110.