The UK's largest landlord association has urged the government to let evictions restart despite a blanket ban due to coronavirus.
All new evictions have been banned for five months to August 23 after campaigners warned people could be left homeless in the pandemic.
But the National Residential Landlords Association said some cases that were not linked to coronavirus should resume now.
Policy director Chris Norris told the Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee landlords were in "judicial limbo" and eviction courts will see a "backlog".
Asked if it should be extended beyond August 23, he replied: "We don't think it should be extended.
“In fact I think at the moment there are certain cases that we could be getting some of the case management dealt with now.
“So when we've got those cases that have got absolutely nothing to do with the Covid crisis - those cases where in many many instances a possession order was actually granted prior to lockdown - we don't see any reason why we couldn't start opening up the system so they could be progressed now as lockdown is being lifted.
“We certainly don’t see any need for a continuation of this blanket ban on possessions that we see that the moment.”
It came as charities and campaigners urged the government to put in a long-term plan to deal with a financial crisis to come.
Caitlin Wilkinson of Generation Rent told MPs “we need to see some additional protections” - otherwise “huge numbers of tenants will be unable to pay their rent and will lose their home as a result”.
Ruth Ehrlich, Policy Officer at Shelter, estimated between 5% and 10% of renters have accrued arrears during the crisis - up from around 2% normally.
She claimed more than a million people could now be in arrears - which would increase as the furlough scheme ends and more paychecks are missed.
Ms Ehrlich warned: “174,000 renters have been told by their landlord that they are going to be evicted in the coming months.”
She urged the government to give judges "discretion" as to whether coronavirus has caused the situation when evictions do restart.
Mr Norris insisted landlords were sympathetic to the plight of tenants - but also said there had been "aggressive" campaigns for people to withhold rent.
He added: “We recognised back in March that something needed to be done on public health grounds to stop people being made homeless.
"There’s no dispute around that, even though it’s made landlords’ lives difficult."
