This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. Get advice relating to Scotland

A hearing is a meeting at the court in front of the judge, where decisions can be made about your case. The most important hearing is the trial, which is when your case is decided. But before trial, there may be one or more hearings to decide how the case should be dealt with. These can be important, and sometimes the case can be decided at one of these hearings.

Whether to attend

If there is a hearing involving your case, you should always go. If you don’t go, decisions can be made in your absence and you may find the whole case has been decided against you. Even if you have agreed something with the other party, the court may not accept that agreement unless you are there in person.

The only reasons not to go are because:

• your solicitor or adviser says you don’t need to attend
• the court tells you that the hearing has been cancelled or moved to another date.
• you are unable to attend due to illness or family emergency. This must be something serious and unavoidable. So, for example, a routine appointment or difficulty getting time off work is not a good reason. Tell your solicitor (if you have one) as soon as possible. If you don’t have a solicitor, contact the court and find out what you need to do to change the date. If there is time, you may have to go to court to explain to the judge why the hearing should be moved. If there is no time, make sure that at the very least you telephone the court or someone phones for you to explain the problem.

Preparation

Make sure you understand what the hearing is about. Work out if you need to prepare anything beforehand and what you should take with you. This could include:

• important documents. For the trial, you will need all of your papers, but you may find it useful to have them at earlier hearings too.
• pens and paper for taking notes.
• a diary, to fix future court appointments.
• the address and telephone number of the court.

If you don’t understand a letter from the court or something happening in your case, get advice about what to do. Use our directory to find an adviser in your area, or contact a solicitor.

Court etiquette

When you arrive at court, find out where your hearing is, and give your name to the member of staff taking names for the hearing.

Courtroom

Trials, except in small claims cases, and some possession hearings are heard in large courtrooms. The court usher will tell you when to come in, and where to sit. If you are representing yourself, or if you have a McKenzie friend (please see the section on representation for more information about this option), you should sit near to the front. If you have a solicitor or barrister, you should sit behind them. Other people such as witnesses sit at the back. The judge will then come in, and the usher asks everyone to stand. Then everyone sits down. The judge will then say who is to speak, and only that person stands up.

Evidence

Usually the claimant (person who started the case) or their representative speaks first. S/he needs to explain what the case is about, and then takes the judge through the claimant’s evidence. This usually involves showing the judge documentary evidence, explaining it, and calling witnesses. Documents should already be copied into files called ‘trial bundles’, and the judge should have a copy.

Witnesses

Witnesses will be asked to come to the front, usually to a witness box. The claimant asks the witness to say what they saw and heard. At the end, the defendant can ask questions. The judge can ask questions at any time. The defendant (person who the case is against) or their representative speaks next. The defendant speaks to his/her witnesses first, and then the claimant can ask questions.

At the end of this, the claimant (the person making the claim) is allowed a chance to reply to any points made by the defendant and then end the case.

The Judge

The judge will then make a decision. This may be immediate in a straightforward case, but in a complicated case may take days or even weeks. The judge should say how long it will take.

In a possession hearing, the case is dealt with more quickly. There will be no trial bundle, so you will need to pass any documentary evidence to the usher, who will hand it to the judge. But the procedure is basically the same.

In court, you should always address the judge. Strictly speaking, you should call her or him ‘your honour’ in the county court, but it is more important to be polite. Don’t argue with the judge or the other party. If you believe the judge has misunderstood your point, you can explain it, without arguing about it. Make sure you say everything you want to say, and if there is something you don’t understand ask the judge to explain. But don’t interrupt the judge or the other party – speak when it is your turn to speak. If you are represented, only speak when in the witness box, but if there is something you want your representative to say, pass him or her a note or whisper it quietly.

Chambers hearings

Small claims trials, some possession hearings and other hearings are held in a small room, called ‘chambers’. Everyone sits round a table, with the district judge at one end. Strictly speaking, you should call him ‘sir’ or her ‘madam’, but it is more important to be polite.

Again, don’t argue with the judge or the other party. If you believe the judge has misunderstood your point, you can explain it, without arguing about it. Make sure you say everything you want to say, and if there is something you don’t understand ask the judge to explain. But don’t interrupt the judge or the other party – speak when it is your turn to speak.

If it is a trial or possession hearing, the order of what happens is the same as in a courtroom. If it is a hearing to decide how the case is to be run, the district judge will explain what he wants each side to say.

The district judge will then make a decision. This is usually immediate.

Judgment

When the judge makes a decision, this is called a ‘judgment’. The judgment says what should happen next.

If the judgment says that someone must pay money, it will say when they must pay. If they don’t pay in that time, the other party in the case can go back to court and ask the court to ‘enforce the judgment’. If you owe money, pay the other party, and not the court. Get a receipt. If you can’t afford to pay, get advice from Citizens Advice or a law centre. If you don’t pay, you will have a county court judgment (CCJ) against you, and the other party might take steps to try to make you pay.

If you are owed money, and it isn’t paid, get information from the court about enforcing your judgment, or use our directory to find an adviser who can help you. The court won’t do anything unless you send the right forms.

If you are not happy with the judgment, it may be possible to appeal. Get advice from a solicitor or specialist adviser as quickly as possible. There are short time limits for making appeals, often two weeks. Making an appeal can be difficult and it is difficult to win when you lost the original case.

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