The exercise of judicial discretion in rent arrears cases - Sheffield ...

Chart 2: Requests and outcomes Chart 3: Requests and outcomes
in London court (n=363) in West Country court (n=47)
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
OPO SPO Adjourn Other
Request
outcome
23
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
OPO SPO Adjourn Other
Chart 4: Requests and outcomes Chart 5: Requests and outcomes
in Northern 1 court (n=61) in Northern 2 court (n=69)
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
OPO SPO Adjourn Other
request
outcome
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
OPO SPO Adjourn Other
request
outcome
request
outcome
Although the numbers of recorded case outcomes are small, and care must therefore be
taken in interpreting the data, there do appear to be differences between the courts in terms
of response to requests made by the claimant landlords. Of the 162 initial hearings at which
the landlord requested a suspended possession order (SPO), the proportion of requests
resulting in an SPO across all four courts was 69%. However, there was some variation
around this average, as the comparison of the above charts makes clear. For example, the
proportion of SPOs granted to SPOs requested was lower in West Country and London
courts (59% and 60% respectively), whereas in Northern 1 and Northern 2 it was higher than
the average (70% and 88%). Where the landlord requested an outright order, the Northern 1
and Northern 2 courts always granted that order in our sample, whereas in West Country
and London the proportions were lower (73% and 56% of requests granted, respectively).
We now consider a number of factors, including those raised by the focus group participants,
that might be leading to these differences, in both general outcomes and between requests
and outcomes. The information from recorded cases is used here to examine whether these
factors can begin to account for any differences between the four courts. After initial