0:02 AM, 15th November 2024, About a month ago
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Landlord possession actions in England and Wales have surged in the third quarter, with private landlords leading the way, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reveals.
Its data shows that when compared to the same period last year, there have been rises in claims, orders, warrants and repossessions.
The number of landlord possession claims increased by 2%, orders by 7%, warrants by 17%, and repossessions by 13%.
The rise in claims and orders occurred across most geographical regions, with London experiencing the biggest increase.
The capital accounted for 35% of all landlord claims and orders in the third quarter.
A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “Both mortgage and landlord possession actions have continued to rise this quarter, reaching 2019 levels, although mortgage actions have increased at a much greater rate than landlord actions.
“The rise in landlord claims is driven by an increase in private landlord claims, whilst social landlord and accelerated claims have remained relatively stable.
“The median time taken between claim to repossession has fallen by 13.9 weeks since the same period last year.”
Landlord possession claims in the third quarter were 25,418, orders rose to 19,254 (7%) and warrants hit 11,763.
The MoJ says that there were 6,942 repossessions.
However, since the third quarter of last year, accelerated claims have dropped by 2%, private landlord claims are up 5% and social landlord claims have risen by 3%.
Also, 36% or 9,069 of all landlord possession claims were social landlord claims compared to private landlord claims (31% or 7,786).
This contrasts with pre-Covid proportions when most claims (around 60%) were social landlord claims.
Propertymark’s chief executive, Nathan Emerson, said: “Considering both inflation and interest rates have tracked downward across the year, many people are still potentially battling longer term effects, and some are ultimately struggling.
“With the average house price in the UK being £293,000, many buyers, especially first-time buyers will struggle to step onto the housing ladder, even more so for those in England who will also contend with the new Stamp Duty Land Tax threshold from April next year.”
He added: “We now hope to see the UK government act on its ambitions to build more quality homes across the country with the appropriate infrastructure in place, alongside interest rates and other costs reducing further to ease the pressure on people’s finances.”
