Jul

Landlord evictions increase 15-fold in 12 months, official figures show

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Repossessions by landlords of private rented homes have increased by 1,487% year on year, latest figures from evictions specialist Landlord Action reveal.

The staggering figure, which includes England and Wales, reflects the resuming of evictions by landlords over the past year following several Covid-related possessions bans.

As a result, during the pandemic only cases where it was deemed necessary were processed, meaning that there were just 817 rental properties repossessed during 2020-21.

To put the percentage increase in context, this means that during 2021/22 some 12,965 rental properties were repossessed among the 4.4 million rented homes in England, or around 0.29%.

Also, the much higher level of repossessions seen over the past year is 56% fewer than the 29,347 recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20.

Floodgates

“At first glance, it would appear as though the floodgates have opened where the repossession of rental properties is concerned, but this isn’t quite the case,” says Eddie Hooker (pictured) CEO of the Hamilton Fraser Group, which operates industry schemes such as mydeposits, the Property Redress Scheme and Client Money Protect, as well as Landlord Action.

“Following a year where tenant evictions were banned except for in certain circumstances, there was always going to be a spike in repossessions as a backlog of cases finally started to be processed.

“But we’re yet to see the level of rental homes being repossessed return to pre-pandemic levels and there are also a lower proportion of initial claims making it to this final, last resort stage.

“While delays due to the backlog of cases may certainly be one cause, it’s also fair to say that the nation’s landlords have largely acted with empathy and understanding following the pandemic, understanding the problems facing many tenants and looking to help them rather than turf them out on their ear.”

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