The Civil Justice Council has published an Interim Report for consultation on the subject of pre-action protocols (PAPs). The consultation will close on Friday, 24 December 2021. Those PAPs relating to Housing comprise the Disrepair/Housing Conditions PAP (with one version applying in England and another in Wales), the Possession Claims by Social Landlords PAP and the Possession Claims for Mortgage Arrears PAP. Key reform options canvassed in the report include:

• Making all PAPs available online via portals;
• Formally recognising that compliance with PAPs would be mandatory, except in urgent cases where immediate court intervention is necessary;
• Introducing a good faith obligation to try to resolve or narrow the dispute at the pre-action stage.

For a more detailed summary of the report’s contents, click here. For the report itself, click here. To respond to the proposals, click here.