Landlord Repossessions Hit Five-Year High

Landlord claims to repossess rented homes have hit the highest level for five years.

The latest court data from the Ministry of Justice shows landlord claims are up 9 per cent in a year to 24,495 in the past three months—the most since before the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic.

Compared to the second quarter of 2023, landlord possession claims increased from 22,526 to 24,495 (9 per cent), orders from 16,029 to 18,436 (15 per cent), warrants from 9,957 to 11,172 (12 per cent), and repossessions from 5,950 to 6,927 (16 per cent).

However, the average time from issuing a claim to repossession for landlords has risen from 22.1 weeks to 25.4 weeks compared to the same quarter in 2023.

The MoJ statistics combine social landlord and private landlord court claims for Q2 2024. The split shows that 8,379 (34 per cent) of claims were by social landlords.

London is an eviction hotspot

Private landlords took 16,116 claims to court, of which 8,448 (34 per cent) were accelerated claims. Landlords can make an accelerated claim if the tenant stays in a home beyond the date of a Section 21 notice and the landlord is not chasing rent arrears.

The largest concentration of claims is in London, but evictions rose in every region of England. The capital accounted for 8,448 landlord claims and 5,782 court orders - 35 and 31 per cent of the respective totals.

Claims in London increased 16 per cent year-on-year, while orders were up 32 per cent and warrants increased by 33 per cent.

The time the court took to process landlord cases increased—claims to order increased from 7.6 weeks in Q2 last year to 8.1 weeks this year. Similarly, claims to warrant times increased from 13.7 weeks last year to 14.1 weeks in Q2 2024, and claims to repossessions in Q2 2024 rose to 25.4 weeks from 22.1 weeks in Q2 2023.

No evictions for 40 councils

London had the highest possession claim rates, with the East End borough of Barking and Dagenham recording the most (850 per 100,000 households). London councils accounted for seven out of the top ten private landlord claims.

Bailiffs repossessed most of the homes owned by private landlords in Newham, East London (202 per 100,000 homes).

East Devon had the lowest possession claim rate (9.3 per 100,000 homes), while 40 councils had no bailiff repossessions.

Download the entire MoJ claims and evictions report for Q2 2024