Landlords can ask the court to permit forced entry to a rented home for gas and electrical safety inspections after a county court ruling that clarifies how judges may use CPR 70.2A when an access injunction has already been ignored.
The judgment in Stonewater Limited v Rosie Marie Harris, handed down this month by His Honour Judge Glen at Southampton County Court, says district judges do in principle have the power to let landlords force access for gas or electrical inspections in the right circumstances.
For landlords, the timing matters because missed safety checks are becoming a sharper compliance risk as enforcement tightens. The ruling does not create an automatic right to break in, and it is not binding on other courts, but it gives landlords and their advisers a clearer route where repeated attempts to secure access have failed.
Judge says forced access can be allowed after non-compliance
The case arose after Stonewater obtained an injunction requiring access for an electrical inspection, then returned to court when further attempts still failed. Judge Glen said alternatives such as contempt proceedings or possession action were “unattractive and disproportionate” where the real issue was getting into the property to complete essential safety work.
He added that district judges and deputy district judges “do in principle have the power to make an order permitting landlords to force access to rented property in order to carry out gas and electrical safety inspections”. That is a notable shift from a stricter county court approach seen elsewhere, where judges had questioned whether the rules allowed that step at all.
The judgment also sets limits. Forced entry would not normally be suitable at a first hearing in a no-access case. Landlords must give the court evidence about the occupier, including any vulnerabilities, and should give two days’ notice before any attempt to enter. The judgment also says landlords should not force entry if a resident is present and actively opposing access.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on landlords planning more routine inspections as fixed terms fall away under the Renters’ Rights Act, which highlighted how access and record-keeping were already moving up the compliance agenda. The latest ruling suggests judges may now be more willing to help where a landlord has done the groundwork and safety checks still cannot be completed.
Why the ruling matters for landlord compliance
The practical value for landlords is not just legal clarity. Gas and electrical checks sit close to the core of landlord safety duties, and failure can quickly become part of a wider enforcement picture if hazards are later found. Landlord Knowledge has already covered how tougher HHSRS enforcement is raising the stakes for poor property standards.
That does not mean landlords can treat this as a shortcut. The ruling points the other way. A landlord seeking forced access would need to show repeated failed attempts, proper notice, a proportionate reason for entry and a sensible approach to the occupier’s circumstances. In other words, the court route is likely to help those who can show a clear paper trail, not those who move too fast.
There is also still some legal caution. Because this was a county court decision, it does not bind every judge in England and Wales. Even so, it gives landlords, agents and solicitors a stronger authority to cite than they had before, especially in cases where a tenant simply does not engage and the safety risk keeps building.
The full judgment is available through the National Archives Find Case Law service.
What this means for landlords
- If access requests keep failing: keep a full record of notices, appointments, contractor visits and any tenant responses before considering court action.
- Watch for: judges asking about vulnerability, timing and whether less intrusive steps were exhausted first.
- Compliance point: this ruling may help with gas and electrical inspections, but it does not remove the need for a careful and proportionate process.
- Bottom line: landlords now have a clearer legal route in hard no-access cases, but only where the evidence is strong and the safety need is real.
Editor’s view
Landlords should not need a legal maze to complete basic safety checks, but neither should forced entry become routine. The useful part of this ruling is that it offers a route for genuine deadlock cases while still forcing landlords to show they acted carefully first.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 22 July 2026
Sources: National Archives Find Case Law, Southampton County Court judgment
Related reading: Half of landlords plan once-a-year inspections as RRA ends fixed terms
