Suspension of Warrant of Possession on Form N245: Terms That Work, Terms That Fail, and the Cases the Authorities Have Established

Last reviewed: 14 May 2026 — England and Wales

General information only. This article describes the law in England and Wales as at the date shown above. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice on your case. For free regulated advice, contact a Law Centre, Citizens Advice, Shelter England, or the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service available at every County Court.

Quick Answer

Once a possession order has been made and the warrant of possession (Form N325) has been issued, a tenant facing imminent eviction can apply on Form N245 for the warrant to be suspended on terms — typically a payment plan that addresses the arrears alongside the current rent. The court can suspend, postpone, or stay the warrant under Section 85 of the Housing Act 1985 (for secure tenancies) and Section 9 of the Housing Act 1988 (for assured tenancies, including discretionary-ground possession orders). The terms must be capable of being complied with — Sheffield City Council v Hopkins [2001] EWCA Civ 1023 sets out the framework — and the threshold for relief once breached is high — Manchester City Council v Higgins [2005] EWCA Civ 1423 illustrates. The application can be made even on the day of eviction, but every day matters and the bailiff will not wait.

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When the N245 Route Is Available

The N245 suspension route applies where:

1. A possession order has been made (whether outright or suspended).
2. A warrant of possession has been issued.
3. The tenant wants to stop or pause the eviction on terms.

It is available for:

• Assured tenancies (private rented sector, post-1989) on discretionary grounds (10, 11, 12, 13, 14) under Section 9 of the Housing Act 1988.
• Secure tenancies (council and most housing-association lets) under Section 85 of the Housing Act 1985.
• Rent Act protected tenancies (pre-1989, increasingly rare) under Section 100 of the Rent Act 1977.

It is NOT available for INDEFINITE suspension of:

• Mandatory-ground possession orders under the Housing Act 1988. The court has no general power to suspend possession on mandatory grounds.
• Mortgage possession orders. Different machinery — Section 36 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, applied for on Form N244, not N245.

Section 89 of the Housing Act 1980 — the short statutory postponement window

For mandatory-ground possession orders, the court does have a limited statutory power to postpone the date for possession by up to 14 days, or in cases of exceptional hardship up to 42 days, under Section 89 of the Housing Act 1980. This is a postponement of the date in the possession order, not an open-ended suspension. The reasoning is set out at legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/51/section/89.

A tenant facing eviction on Ground 8 (mandatory rent arrears) can therefore ask the court for the 14-day / 42-day postponement under Section 89 HA 1980 — but cannot apply for indefinite suspension under Section 9 HA 1988 in the way that a tenant on a discretionary ground can. The "exceptional hardship" test for the 42-day window is fact-sensitive — typically engaged where the tenant has a disability, a serious medical condition, or a child with a school-place dependency that the eviction would disrupt.

The wider route to challenge a mandatory-ground order is by appeal under CPR Part 52 within 21 days, or by application to set aside under CPR 39.3 if the tenant did not attend the hearing. See our CPR 13.3 set-aside guide.

For everyone else, N245 is the survival mechanism.

The full Section 9 of the Housing Act 1988 is at legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/9. Section 85 of the Housing Act 1985 is at legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/section/85.

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The Two Stages of Suspension

The terminology is important. The court can do four things to a possession order:

1. Suspension — the warrant is paused on terms that the tenant must comply with. If the tenant complies, the warrant lapses. If the tenant breaches, the landlord can apply for the warrant to be reissued.

2. Postponement — the warrant is delayed to a fixed date without conditions. The fixed date is then enforceable. Less common than suspension.

3. Stay — the warrant is paused pending some other event (typically an appeal or a related application). Procedurally similar to suspension but without payment conditions.

4. Variation of date for possession — the date on the possession order is changed without re-opening any other aspect. Useful for short adjournments by consent.

Most tenant applications under N245 ask for suspension on terms — a payment plan that clears the arrears over a stated period while the tenant remains in occupation paying current rent.

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What Terms the Court Will Accept

The court's discretion is broad but not unfettered. The leading framework is Sheffield City Council v Hopkins [2001] EWCA Civ 1023, where Sedley LJ held:

"The terms imposed must be such as to ensure that the tenant is capable of complying with them and capable of knowing whether he is in breach."

This is the working test. Two limbs:

Limb 1 — capable of compliance

The terms must be realistic given the tenant's income and outgoings. Proposing £200 per month towards arrears when the tenant's disposable income is £80 per month is doomed. The court will not bind the tenant to terms it knows they cannot meet.

Evidence of capability:

• Income: payslips, benefit awards, Universal Credit decisions
• Outgoings: bank statements showing essential outgoings, council tax, utility bills, food
• Disposable surplus: the difference between the two, with a margin for living costs
• Affordability: the proposed monthly figure expressed as a fraction of disposable surplus

The court is increasingly comfortable with detailed Income & Expenditure schedules in the format used by StepChange or Citizens Advice. A tenant who walks in with a one-page I&E schedule, supporting bank statements, and a clear proposal has a far stronger case than one who arrives empty-handed asking for "a chance."

Limb 2 — capable of knowing breach

The terms must be clear. "Pay something towards the arrears each month" is not enforceable — the tenant cannot tell whether they are in breach. The court will impose a stated figure, a stated frequency, and a stated review mechanism.

Standard wording is along the lines of: "The warrant of possession be suspended on terms that the defendant pays the current rent of £X per calendar month as it falls due, plus the sum of £Y per calendar month towards the arrears of £Z, until the arrears are cleared in full. Liberty to apply on 14 days notice."

The numbers vary; the structure is universal.

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What Happens If the Tenant Breaches

The default position from Manchester City Council v Higgins [2005] EWCA Civ 1423 is that breach of a suspended possession order is itself a serious matter. The Court of Appeal there held that the threshold for further relief — that is, suspending the warrant a second time after breach — is high.

In practical terms:

• First breach — the court may suspend a second time on stricter terms (payment of any arrears caused by the breach within 7 days, plus additional terms going forward). The tenant has used up the easy second chance.
• Repeated breach — the court is unlikely to suspend a third time. The reasoning in Higgins is that the original possession order reflected a finding that possession was reasonable; repeated breach confirms that finding.
• Catastrophic breach (e.g. arrears double during the suspension period) — the court will refuse further suspension and eviction proceeds.

The case-law pattern is that the first N245 application tends to succeed where the proposed terms are ones the tenant can genuinely sustain. Pushing for the lowest possible monthly figure and then breaching at month two is observed in the reported decisions to produce worse outcomes than agreeing a higher figure and complying.

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The Application Process Step by Step

Step 1 — Get Form N245 and prepare it

Form N245 is on gov.uk under "court forms." Three pages — the application, the proposed terms, and the Income & Expenditure schedule.

Fill in:

• Section 1: case number, parties, address
• Section 2: nature of the order being challenged (the possession order)
• Section 3: what is sought (suspension of warrant on terms)
• Section 4: the proposed terms (current rent plus £X per month towards arrears)
• Section 5: the I&E schedule
• Statement of truth signed by the applicant

Attach:

• A copy of the possession order
• A copy of the warrant (if issued)
• Supporting evidence — payslips, UC notice, bank statements, benefit decisions
• A short witness statement explaining the circumstances and the proposal

Step 2 — File at the County Court

The application goes to the County Court that made the possession order. The N245 application fee is modest — typically £14 (without notice) or £59 (on notice) — and is materially lower than a general N244 application fee (£313 on notice). Court fees are revised periodically; check current rates on gov.uk court fees and the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 as amended before filing.

Apply for EX160 fee remission if eligible. See our EX160 fee remission guide. The EX160 must be filed BEFORE the N245 or with it, not afterwards.

Step 3 — The hearing

Same-day hearings are possible if the eviction is imminent. The court will list the application urgently if the bailiff's appointment is within seven days.

The hearing is usually short — 15 to 30 minutes. The District Judge will:

• Check the proposed terms against the tenant's I&E
• Hear briefly from both sides on whether the terms are realistic
• Decide whether to suspend, postpone, refuse, or vary

If the tenant is not represented, the judge will often help shape the order — "Could you afford £30 a week instead of £150 a month?" — and the result is a workable order rather than a refusal.

If the landlord opposes the suspension strenuously, the court will weigh the landlord's position against the tenant's. The reasoning in Higgins is that the landlord's right to vacant possession is real, and the court must not impose terms that simply postpone an inevitable eviction without prospect of repayment.

Step 4 — After the order

If the order suspends the warrant on terms, the tenant must comply with them. Standing order or direct debit for the agreed payments is the practitioner-recommended approach, with records retained.

If the tenant complies for the full period and the arrears clear, the warrant lapses. The tenant remains in occupation under the original tenancy.

If the tenant breaches, the landlord can apply on Form N244 for the warrant to be reissued. The tenant can apply again on a fresh N245 to suspend, but the Higgins threshold makes this harder the second time.

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What Counts as a Realistic Term

Real numbers from County Court suspension orders in 2026:

• Tenant on Universal Credit + part-time work, £1,800 rent, £8,000 arrears: court suspended on terms of current rent + £100 per month towards arrears. Six-and-a-half-year repayment timetable. Court accepted because tenant's I&E showed £140 monthly surplus.

• Tenant on UC only, £900 rent, £3,500 arrears: court suspended on terms of current rent + Discretionary Housing Payment paying down arrears at £200 per month for six months, then current rent only. Local authority signed off the DHP at the hearing.

• Working tenant with disposable surplus £400 per month, £12,000 arrears: court suspended on terms of current rent + £250 per month towards arrears. Four-year repayment, with a 12-month review clause built in.

• Tenant unable to evidence any disposable surplus, refused additional support: court refused suspension. Warrant proceeded.

The pattern is clear. The court will suspend where the tenant can evidence a realistic plan, even if the plan stretches over years. The court will not suspend where the tenant has no plan.

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Public-Sector Tenants and the Wider Discretion

The Hopkins / Higgins framework applies across both private and public sectors, but social landlords face additional considerations.

For Housing Association and local-authority tenants, the public-law duty under the Equality Act 2010 means that disabled tenants whose conduct is causally linked to a disability can invoke the Akerman-Livingstone v Aster Communities Ltd [2015] UKSC 15 doctrine. The court must apply structured proportionality before making a possession order — the suspension question is often easier where this analysis has been done at trial.

For council tenants generally, the Pinnock and Powell line of cases (Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45; Hounslow LBC v Powell [2011] UKSC 8) brought Article 8 ECHR proportionality squarely into the County Court's jurisdiction. Suspended possession orders are not the standard outcome but they are a clear part of the menu.

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Common Patterns the Cases Show

Reported and unreported County Court decisions on suspension applications repeatedly identify the same patterns that defeat tenant applications:

1. Late filing. The bailiff's appointment proceeds if the application is not before the court in time. The published advice from HLPAS and Shelter is consistent: file on the day the warrant arrives.

2. Unrealistic offers. Optimistic figures fail at the second-month review. The case-law pattern is that proposing a sum well below disposable surplus carries weight; proposing a sum at or above surplus typically does not.

3. Filing without an Income & Expenditure schedule. Courts cannot assess a proposal without numbers. A handwritten one-page list is better than nothing; the StepChange or Citizens Advice template is the working practitioner standard.

4. Filing without supporting evidence. Payslips, UC decisions, bank statements — without these, the court must take figures on trust. The case-law pattern is that District Judges are wary of unsupported figures.

5. Missing the parallel CPR 39.3 deadline. Where the tenant was not at the original possession hearing, the CPR 39.3 set-aside route has its own promptness requirement. See the CPR 13.3 set-aside guide for the parallel framework.

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Free Help Available

• Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) — free at the County Court door for any tenant facing possession action. No means test. Funded under the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. Available at most County Courts on possession-claim list days.
• Shelter England — telephone advice and live-chat: shelter.org.uk.
• Citizens Advice — local offices and Adviceline.
• StepChange Debt Charity — for the I&E schedule and Breathing Space referral if relevant: stepchange.org.
• Local Law Centre — free legal representation including at the suspension hearing in some areas.

The HLPAS is the most powerful single free resource for tenants in this position. Many tenants miss it because they don't realise it's free and doesn't require legal aid certification. It is the standard route for tenant representation at possession-list hearings in 2026.

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Authoritative Sources

• Housing Act 1988 s.9 — discretion in suspension: legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/9
• Housing Act 1985 s.85 — secure-tenant suspension: legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/section/85
• Civil Procedure Rules Part 83 — warrants and writs of control: justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part83
• Equality Act 2010 — disability-related possession proportionality: legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15
• Case law: Sheffield City Council v Hopkins [2001] EWCA Civ 1023; Manchester City Council v Higgins [2005] EWCA Civ 1423; Knowsley Housing Trust v White [2008] UKHL 70; Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45; Hounslow LBC v Powell [2011] UKSC 8; Akerman-Livingstone v Aster Communities Ltd [2015] UKSC 15.

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BundleCreator's Housing Possession & Tenant Debt subsite at /housing-possession-debt covers the full defended-journey from N9 acknowledgement of service through N245 suspension to enforcement. The Defending bundle template pre-loads the I&E schedule, the proposed terms framework, and the witness-statement template for a same-day suspension hearing.

Nothing in this article is legal advice or a substitute for it. The information describes the law in England and Wales as at the date shown. Tenants facing imminent eviction should contact the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service at the County Court or call Shelter's emergency helpline before the bailiff's appointment.