In the last couple of weeks, following an urgent review by HMCTS, County Court administrative centres have been directed to ensure they are checking that requests for warrants of possession, using form N325, have been completed correctly when the request is based upon non-compliance with a suspended order for possession. As a result, Claimants’ requests for warrants will be subject to greater scrutiny and they may be contacted to provide further information.

 

It recently came to HMCTS’s attention that Claimants were not always specifying the correct, or any, figures under 4 (A) and (B) of the form, where the details of the “balance due at the date of this request” and “amount for which warrant to issue” should be inserted. These details are required for the request to comply with CPR 82.26(7), which states as follows:

 

In a case to which paragraph (6) applies or where an order for possession has been suspended on terms as to payment of a sum of money by instalments, the creditor must in the request certify—

 

(a) the amount of money remaining due under the judgment or order; and

(b) that the whole or part of any instalment due remains unpaid.

 

It appears that, in many cases, N325s were not being completed correctly, particularly when warrants were requested through the PCOL system, which has only very recently been updated for compatibility with the latest version of the N325 which was released in May 2014.