Court procedures

• Procedure for defended matters in the Possession List
  
• Mediation
• Practice Note SC CL 6 - Possession List

Legislation

The legislative instruments governing applications in the Possession List are the Civil Procedure Act 2005 and the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005. Once you access these legislative instruments on the Legislation NSW website, you can use the "Search Title" function to search for legislative provisions and rules relevant to "possession". For example, if you wanted to search the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules to locate rules that include the exact phrase "possession of land", you would click on the "Search title" menu option and then enter "possession of land" into the "Exact phrase" field, and the search would only return Rules that feature these three words. You could also try an Exact Phrase search for "Possession List", or simply "Possession".

Forms

The following forms may be helpful in Possession matters.

You may download all the UCPR forms listed below from the Civil Forms page on the UCPR website.

UCPR Form 3A - Statement of Claim - filing party legally represented
UCPR Form 3B - Statement of Claim - filing party acting in person or by authorised officer
UCPR Form 7A - Defence - filing party legally represented
UCPR Form 7B - Defence - filing party acting in person or by authorised officer
UCPR Form 20 - Notice of Motion
UCPR Form 36 - Notice of motion - default judgment on claim for possession of land
UCPR Form 36A - Notice of motion - default judgment on claim for possession of land and liquidated claim
UCPR Form 40 - Affidavit
UCPR Form 41 - Affidavit of Service
UCPR Form 43 - Judgment or order
UCPR Form 59 - Notice of motion - writ for possession of land
UCPR Form 60 - Writ for possession of land
UCPR Form 65 - Notice of motion - writ for levy of property
UCPR Form 66 - Writ for levy of property
UCPR Form 93 - Possession of Land coversheet
Short Form of Statement of Claim for service on defendants who are borrowers/mortgagors (Annexure 1 of Practice Note SC Gen CL 6 - Possession List)

Fees

The current filing fees are available here. Please note that there is no filing fee payable on a Notice of motion seeking default judgment on a claim for possession of land/land and liquidated claim, or a writ for the levy of property.

• Acceptable methods of payment
• Application to postpone, waive or remit court fees (DOC, 247.0 KB)
• Attorney General's Guidelines for the Waiver, Remission and Postponement of Fees

Sources of legal assistance

• Where to get Legal Advice and Information
• Legal Aid Mortgage Hardship Service
• Consumer Credit Legal Centre Credit & Debt Hotline
• Court Appointed Legal Assistance (pro bono legal help)

Caselaw research

The Caselaw database contains Court of Appeal judgments delivered after 1988, and Supreme Court judgements handed down after 1999. The "Power search" and "Advanced search" functions in Caselaw allow you to confine your search results to decisions that concern the possession of land. For example, in the Advanced Search function, you could enter "possession of land" into the "With the phrase" field; this search will only return judgments that concern the possession of land.

Statistical information

The Court publishes statistical data and analysis in its Annual Review. Researchers should bear the following in mind when considering the information published in the Annual Review:

• the number of filings in the Supreme Court Possession List is not equal to the number of cases in which writs of possession are issued. Information concerning the number of writs issued or executed is available from the Office of the Sheriff.
• cases in the Possession List can involve any type of land, eg unimproved land and land used for residential, commercial or investment purposes. The Supreme Court has no information regarding the type of land involved, its location, or the types of lenders who commence proceedings.

Those seeking more detailed statistical data from the Court may apply under its Policy on the Release of Data, Information and Statistics.

Accessing information about specific cases in the Possession List

• Contact the Supreme Court registry
• Application to access a court file