Evictions Up but Still Below Pre-Covid Levels

The number of landlords going to court to evict private tenants has increased compared to last year.

Third quarter claims (25,418), orders for possession (19,254), warrants (11,763), and repossessions (6,942) increased by 2 per cent, 7 per cent, 17 per cent, and 13 per cent, respectively, according to new data released by the Ministry of Justice.

However, court claims have slowly risen since the second quarter of 2021 and have only now returned to pre-Covid levels.

In 2019, landlords put 110,907 possession claims before the courts, while 2024 is on course for a similar number, with 74,778 recorded in the first three quarters. The intervening years have all had fewer claims due to the pandemic.

So, although claims are rising, they are still well below the yearly average of 156,000 registered between 1999 and 2019.

London is UK’s eviction hotspot

The MoJ data also includes legal action by social landlords, who initiated 36 per cent (9,069) of possession claims. Pre-COVID, social landlords initiated 60 per cent of claims.

Accelerated claims comprised 34 per cent of the total number of landlord claims in Q4 2024 - some 8,563 claims. An accelerated claim is a legal process that allows a landlord to regain possession of a residential property from a tenant without a court hearing.

The MoJ says most possession claims relate to rented homes in London. 8,818 claims were before the courts, leading to 6,674 possession orders—about 35 per cent of the totals in each category. Claims dropped in Wales and the North-West, while most other regions stayed roughly the same.

The highest number of warrants was issued in the capital (39 per cent), up 60 per cent from 2,826 in Q3 2023 to 4,545 in Q3 2024.

Evictions Taking Longer to Navigate Courts

Only three of the 340 local authorities in England and Wales reported no landlord claims in Q3 2024, while Wychavon posted the lowest rate, at 13.3 claims per 100,000 households owned by private landlords.

Private landlord repossessions by bailiffs were highest in Enfield, North London, where 75 tenants lost their homes, followed by Redbridge with 62 and Barking and Dagenham with 34 repossessions.

Some 30 local authorities had no repossessions in Q3 2024.

Alongside the increase in court actions, the median time taken to evict a tenant is taking longer:

• Claims to order timeliness have increased to 8.0 weeks, up from 7.3 weeks in the same period in 2023.
• Claims to warrant timeliness is 14 weeks, up from 13.3 weeks in the same period in 2023.
• Claims to repossessions timeliness have increased to 24.5 weeks, up from 23.0 weeks in the same period in 2023.

London Eviction Boroughs