. 

Published: 12 May 2016 Mortgage and Landlord Possession Statistics in England and Wales January to March 2016 Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin 
 

## Contents

| Introduction                           |   3 |
|----------------------------------------|-----|
| Court Caseload                         |   3 |
|                                        |     |
| Case Timeliness                        |   3 |
|                                        |     |
| Seasonal Adjustment                    |   4 |
|                                        |     |
| Key Findings                           |   5 |
|                                        |     |
| 1: Mortgage possession actions         |   6 |
|                                        |     |
| 2: Landlord possession actions         |  13 |
|                                        |     |
| Annex A: Further information           |  20 |
|                                        |     |
| Annex B: Policy changes                |  22 |
|                                        |     |
| Annex C: Map information               |  24 |
|                                        |     |
| Annex D: Explanatory notes             |  25 |
|                                        |     |
| Contact points for further information |  26 |
|                                        |     |

## Introduction

This quarterly bulletin presents statistics on mortgage and landlord possession actions in the county courts of England and Wales in January to March 2016. The statistics provide summary figures on the volume and progression of cases that follow the court process of repossessing a property.  

## Court Caseload

A mortgage or landlord possession action starts when a mortgage lender or landlord completes and submits a claim to the courts to repossess a property. The most common reason for repossession is arrears of mortgage or rent. The court process of possessing a property broadly follows four stages: 

1. A claim for a mortgage or landlord possession being issued by a 
mortgage lender or a landlord; 
2. An order being made by the county court. This can either be an outright 
order that the property is to be recovered by a specific date, or a suspended order that is suspended as long as the defendant complies with conditions specified in the order; 
3. If the defendant fails to leave the property by the date given in the order 
or does not meet the terms of a suspended order, the order may be enforced by a warrant of possession. This authorises the county court bailiff to evict the defendant from the property. The bailiff then arranges a date to execute the eviction; and  
4. Repossession by a county court bailiff. Repossessions may occur 
without county court bailiffs, through less formal procedures, so the 
actual number of repossessions is usually greater than the number carried out by county court bailiffs.  
This report also includes UK wide total mortgage repossession figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).These are not directly comparable to the other figures in this report, which cover England and Wales only. Figures for each of these four processes are presented in the Excel tables and CSV files that accompany this publication.  

## Case Timeliness

Two measures of case timeliness are included in this bulletin.  The first looks at how long it has taken (in weeks) to get to each stage in the relevant court process from the date when the claim was received, whilst the second reports how long it takes, on average, for claims to reach each stage in the process (number of quarters elapsed) alongside the proportion of claims that actually reach each stage.  

## Seasonal Adjustment

Seasonal adjustment aims to remove regular seasonal patterns in a time series to show how it changes from quarter to quarter and give a clearer picture of the longer term trends. Possession actions tend to vary due to seasonal effects - since these seasonal effects follow a regular annual pattern, their impact on the series can be removed by seasonally adjusting the data. Please see 'A Guide to Civil and Administrative Justice Statistics'1 for more information on how these figures are calculated. 

## Users Of The Statistics

These statistics are a leading indicator of the number of properties to be repossessed and the only source of sub-national possession information. In addition to monitoring court workloads, they are used to assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy both nationally and locally. The main users of these statistics are Ministers and officials in central government departments, such as the Department of Communities and Local Government and HM Treasury. Other users include non-governmental bodies, including various voluntary organisations, with an interest in housing and homelessness, such as Shelter. The next publication of Mortgage and Landlord Possession Statistics Quarterly in England and Wales is scheduled to be published on 11 August 2016, covering the period April to June 2016. 


                                           

## Key Findings

This report presents key statistics on mortgage and landlord possession claims in county courts in England and Wales for the first quarter of 2016 
(January to March). It includes summary figures of the volume and progression of cases that follow the court process of possessing a property. All figures for the current quarter are provisional. 

## Mortgage Possession

 In January to March 2016, 4,738 mortgage possession claims were 
recorded in county courts, down 16% compared to the number issued in 
the same quarter last year. 
 There were 3,208 orders for possession, 4,836 warrants of possession 
and 1,355 repossessions by county court bailiffs in January to March 2016; down 28%, 24% and 18% respectively compared to the same quarter last year, following the long-term downward trend seen since 2009. 
 Seasonally adjusted data shows that when compared to the previous 
quarter (October to December 2015), claims have remained stable, orders and repossessions have increased by 8% and 6% respectively and warrants have slightly decreased (down 2%). This is possibly an indication that the downward trend seen in mortgage possession claims is stabilising; this will become evident if future quarters follow the same pattern.  

## Landlord Possession

 In January to March 2016, 38,053 landlord possession claims in county 
courts were recorded, down 10% from the same quarter in 2015.  
 The profile of types of landlord possession claim (e.g. social landlord, 
private landlord and accelerated claims) has changed over time. In January to March 2016, the majority of landlord possession claims (63%) were social landlord claims although this proportion has fallen from 83% in 1999 - in contrast, a quarter of claims made in January to March 2016 (23%) were accelerated claims and this proportion has risen 11 percentage points since January to March 2009. 
 There were 29,049 orders for possession, 19,728 warrants of possession 
and 10,968 repossessions by county court bailiffs, down 8%, 5% and 3% respectively, on the same quarter last year.  
 When comparing to the previous quarter (October to December 2015), 
the seasonally adjusted data shows a slight decrease in claims and warrants, of 2% and 1% respectively and orders have remained stable.   
 The seasonally adjusted figures for repossessions by county court bailiffs 
show an increase of 5% when compared to October to December 2015, reversing the downward trend seen over the previous three quarters.  

## 1: Mortgage Possession Actions

The number of mortgage possession actions2 in court increased from 2002 to 2008, and has been decreasing since then (Figure 1 and Table 1). The total number of properties repossessed3 has followed a similar trend. The fall in the number of mortgage possession actions since 2008 coincides with lower interest rates4, a proactive approach from lenders in managing consumers in financial difficulties and other interventions from the government, such as the Mortgage Rescue Scheme. Other factors that may have contributed to the rapid fall in the number of mortgage possession claims and orders since 2008 include the introduction of the Mortgage Pre- Action Protocol (see Annex B on policy changes for more information). Additionally, the downward trend in recent years coincides with a decrease in the proportion of owner-occupiers. In England, owner-occupiers reduced from 71% in 2003 to 63% in 2013/14 and has since remained stable5.   
 
Claims issued: A possession claim is created when a claimant begins a legal action for an order for possession of property by making a claim that is then issued in a county court. There were 4,738 mortgage possession claims issued in January to March 2016, down 16% on the same quarter in 2015 (5,643). After seasonal adjustment, the number of claims was 4,576 in January to March 2016, remaining stable when compared to the previous quarter (4,557).  
 
The number of mortgage claims per 100,000 households by local authority ranged from zero (Rutland) to 60 (Blackpool). There were two areas with more than 45 mortgage possession claims per 100,000 households (Darlington and Redditch) whilst there were 12 other local authorities with less than five claims. 

Orders8: The court may grant an order following a judicial hearing which can be either for immediate possession (outright order) or suspended. There were a total of 3,028 orders in January to March 2016, down 28% on the number of orders in the same period in 2016 (4,224). Seasonally adjusted figures show an 8% increase compared to the number of orders made in October to December 2015 (from 2,947 to 3,346).  
Forty three % of mortgage possession orders made in January to March 2016 were suspended compared with 57% that were outright. Annually, from 2006 to 2014, between 46% and 50% of orders were suspended each year - this proportion dropped to 43% in 2015. 

Warrants of possession9: Having received an order, or if the terms of a suspended order are broken, the claimant can apply for a warrant of possession. There were 4,836 warrants of possession in January to March 2016, a 24% decrease on the same period in 2015 (6,343). Seasonally adjusted figures show a 2% decrease in the number of warrants on the previous quarter from 5,069 to 4,992, the lowest quarterly figure since 2009. 

Repossessions in England and Wales by county court bailiffs: Once a warrant has been issued, county court bailiffs can repossess the property on behalf of the claimant. There were 1,355 repossessions by county court bailiffs in January to March 2016, down 18% on the same quarter in 2015 (1,658). Seasonally adjusted figures show a 6% increase on the previous quarter from 1,219 to 1,296.  
All repossessions in the UK10: UK-wide, there were 2,200 repossessions in October to December 2015. This figure includes repossessions carried out by county court bailiffs and also other types of repossessions. 

                                            
 
Eighty-four local authorities show no repossessions by county court bailiffs in January to March 2016 whilst the highest number of repossessions per 100,000 households was 35 (Enfield). There were two other areas with more than 20 mortgage possession repossessions by county court bailiffs (Kingston upon Hull and Broxbourne). 

 
                                            
Case Timeliness: Figure 2 shows the average number of weeks taken since the initial claim for those orders, warrants and repossessions made by county court bailiffs in each quarter. Figure 3 shows the percentage of mortgage claims that reach each stage by the number of quarters since the claim was submitted. Orders: The average number of weeks taken since initial claim has increased steadily from 12 weeks for orders made in 2005 to 15 weeks in 
 
2012 and this remained relatively stable until 2014.  Figures for 2015 show an increase in the average time taken to 18 weeks. In January to March 2016 the figure stood at 16 weeks. Of those claims submitted in the past five years, 64% have currently progressed to orders - 58% progressed either within the same quarter or by the end of the quarter following that in which the claim was lodged.  
Warrants: The average number of weeks taken since initial claim for warrants issued remained steady between 2005 and 2008, and ranged between 32 weeks and 33 weeks. The average began to rise sharply to 72 weeks in 2013 before falling slightly to 70 weeks in 2014. For those warrants recorded in 2015, it took on average 84 weeks from the initial claim, the longest recorded average time since records began. In January to March 2016, this figure stood at 87 weeks. Of those claims submitted in the past five years, 20% have currently progressed to warrants - 6% progressed in the quarter following the quarter in which the claim was lodged and a further 6% progressed in the subsequent quarter Repossessions by County Court Bailiffs: The average time taken since initial claim for those repossessions made in the relevant period rose from 40 weeks in 2005 to 88 weeks in 2014 with a rapid increase from 2009 onwards. This increased by 19 weeks to 107 weeks in 2015. In January to March 2016 the figure stood at 124 weeks. Both the annual and quarterly figures are the highest since records began. Of the claims submitted in the past five years, 37% have progressed to repossessions - 15%13 progressed either within the same quarter (2%) or by the end of the quarter following that in which the claim was lodged (14%). 


                                           

## 2: Landlord Possession Actions

Annually, landlord possession claims decreased between 2002 and 2010 and subsequently increased until a peak in 2013. The number of claims fell in 2014 and 2015 indicating a change in trend (Figure 4 and Table 4). 



Claims issued: A possession claim is created when a claimant begins a legal action for an order for possession of property by making a claim that is then issued in a county court. There were 38,053 landlord possession claims issued in January to March 2016, down 10% on the same quarter in 
2015 (42,220). After seasonal adjustment, the number of claims was 36,452 in January to March 2016, a decrease of 2% on the previous quarter 
(37,314). Within landlord possession claims, there are three types of claim: social landlord, private landlord and accelerated claims. Accelerated claims can be used by both private and social landlords under certain circumstances and are usually quicker than normal evictions. In January to March 2016, the majority of landlord possession claims (23,970 or 63%) were social landlord claims, 5,201 (14%) were private landlord claims and 8,882 (23%) were accelerated claims. The proportion of claims made using the accelerated procedure has increased from 7% in 1999 to 25% in 2015, whereas the proportion of claims from social landlords has fallen from 83% in 1999 to 62% in 2015. The proportion of claims made by private landlords increased from 9% in 1999 to 17% in 2010, before falling to 13% in 2015 (Figure 5). 



Hart showed the lowest rate of landlord claims (24 per 100,000 households) whilst Barking and Dagenham showed the highest (560 per 100,000 households). London boroughs account for 16 of the 20 local authorities with the highest proportion of landlord claims (Luton, Liverpool, Peterborough and Slough being the only exceptions). 

 
                                            
Orders: The court may grant an order following a judicial hearing which can be either for immediate possession (outright order) or suspended. There were a total of 29,049 landlord possession orders made in January to March 2016, down 8% on the number of orders in the same period in 2015 (31,413). Seasonally adjusted figures show this has remained stable when compared to the previous quarter (from 28,702 to 28,710). 

In January to March 2016, 39% of landlord possession orders being made were suspended.  
Warrants of possession16: Having received an order, or if the terms of a suspended order are broken, the claimant can apply for a warrant of possession. There were 19,728 warrants of possession in January to March 2016, a decrease of 5% on the same period in 2015 (20,697). Seasonally adjusted figures show a 1% decrease compared to the last quarter, from 
19,177 to 18,907. Repossessions by county court bailiffs: Once a warrant has been issued county court bailiffs can repossess the property on behalf of the claimant. There were 10,968 landlord repossessions by county court bailiffs in January to March 2016, down 3% on the same period in 2015 (11,312). Seasonally adjusted figures also show a 5% increase compared to last quarter, from 10,253 to 10,732. The trend in repossessions by county court bailiffs differs to that seen in claims, orders and warrants. This can be attributed to the time it takes for claims to be processed through to the repossession stage.  The number of landlord possession claims peaked in January to March 2014 and are most likely to be working their way through the system. October to December 2015 was the first quarter in recent years that showed a decrease in the number of repossession by county court bailiffs compared with the same period of the previous year. 

                                            

## By Local Authority, 2016 Q117,18

 
There were 6 local authorities who no landlord repossessions by county court bailiffs in January to March 2016 (Hart, Staffordshire Moorlands, Surrey Heath, Waverley, City of London and Isle of Anglesey). The London borough of Enfield had the highest number (296 per 100,000 households in the area). London local authorities account for 7 of the 10 boroughs with the highest proportion of landlord repossessions (Medway, Luton and Slough being the only exceptions). 

 
Case Timeliness: Figure 6 shows that the average number of weeks taken from initial claim for those orders, warrants and repossessions by county court bailiffs made in each quarter.  Figure 7 shows the percentage of landlord claims that reach each stage by the number of quarters since the claim was submitted. 



Orders: Annually, the average number of weeks taken from initial claim remained steady for those order made from 2005 to 2015, ranging from 11 weeks to 13 weeks with 2015 averaging 11 weeks. The trend has continued this quarter, with the average time taken for orders issued in January to March 2016 from initial claim standing at 11 weeks. Of the claims submitted in the past five years, 71% have currently progressed to orders - 64% 
progressed by the end of the quarter following the quarter in which the claim was lodged. Warrants: Annually, the average number of weeks taken since the initial claim for warrants issued each year has been steadily decreasing from 44 weeks in 2005 to 37 weeks in 2015.  The average time taken from initial claim for warrants issued in January to December 2016 was 38 weeks. Of the claims submitted in the past 5 years, 23% have currently progressed to warrants - 12% had progressed by the end of the quarter following the quarter in which the claim was lodged. Repossessions by County Court Bailiffs: Annually, for those repossessions made each year, the average number of weeks since the initial claim rose from 45 weeks in 2005 to 51 weeks in 2009. Since then, it has been steadily decreasing until the middle of 2015. Since then, it has been increasing and the average time taken from initial claim for repossessions orders made by county court bailiffs in January to March 2016 rose to 45 weeks indicating a possible change in trend. Of the claims submitted in the past 5 years, 39% have progressed to repossessions - 23% progressed by the end of the quarter following the quarter in which the claim was lodged and 5% progressed in the subsequent quarter. 

## Annex A: Further Information

Supplementary tables and CSV datasets are available alongside this bulletin, allowing users to analyse the data themselves. The following tables are available, showing data for county courts in England and Wales: 

 Table 1, Mortgage possession workload in the county courts,  1987 - 
2016 Q1 
 Table 2, Mortgage possession claims that lead to orders, warrants, 
and repossessions in the county courts,  1999 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 3a, Average (mean) time in weeks for mortgage possession 
claims to become an order, warrant and repossession,  2005 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 3b, percentage of mortgage claims that reach the each stage 
by the number of quarters since the claim was submitted,  2011 Q1 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 4, Landlord possession workload in the county courts,  1999 - 
2016 Q1 
 
 Table 5, Landlord possession claims that lead to orders, warrants, 
and repossessions in the county courts,  1999 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 6a, Average (mean) time in weeks for landlord possession 
claims to become an order, warrant and repossession,  2005 - 2016 
Q1 
 
 Table 6b, percentage of Landlord claims that reach the each stage by 
the number of quarters since the claim was submitted,  2011 Q1 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 7, Landlord possession claims in the county courts by type of 
procedure and landlord,  1999 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 8, Mortgage and landlord possession workload in the county 
courts, England, 1999 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 9, Mortgage and landlord possession workload in the county 
courts, Wales, 1999 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 10a, Seasonally adjusted mortgage possession actions in the 
county courts,  2009 - 2016 Q1 
 
 Table 10b, Seasonally adjusted landlord possession actions in the 
county courts,  2009 - 2016 Q1 
The CSV datasets contain local authority and court-level breakdowns of claims, orders, warrants and county court bailiff repossessions for England and Wales, for the full amount of time that data are available. Where the value is between 1 and 5, the value is suppressed and shown as "-" to protect the confidentiality of those involved in the claim, order, warrant or repossession. For this reason, the national total number of claims, orders etc. from these datasets will not match the published totals provided in the Excel tables, although the differences are generally small. 

For more information, please refer to the separately downloadable Guide to local authority and court-level information, which can be found in the CSV zip folder, which accompanies this publication. Information on the representation status of claimants and defendants in repossession cases can be found in Civil Statistics Quarterly at www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly 

## Annex B: Policy Changes New Bailiff Laws

New laws came into effect on 6 April 2014 to bring an end to bad and aggressive bailiff behaviour, while making sure businesses, local authorities and others can still fairly enforce debts owed to them. These reforms are part of a wider package under changes to the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Act 2007. With roughly 4 million debts collected each year, in future only bailiffs who have been trained and received certification will be allowed to practise. 

Bailiffs will be banned from entering homes at night and from using physical force against debtors. The changes will also prevent bailiffs from entering properties where only children are at home and includes further measures to protect vulnerable people. Bailiffs will be prevented from taking vital household essentials from debtor's property, such as a cooker, microwave, refrigerator or washing machines. A new set of fixed fees for debtors has also been introduced, to end the previous situation where bailiffs were setting their own fees - sometimes at very high levels - and adding these to the amount people in debt had to pay.  

## Introduction Of Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol

A Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol (MPAP), approved by the Master of the Rolls, for possession claims relating to mortgage or home purchase plan arrears came into effect on 19 November 2008. The protocol applies to mortgage arrears on: 

 First charge residential mortgages and home purchase plans regulated 
by the Financial Service Authority under the Financial Services and Market Act 2000; 
 Third charge mortgages for residential property and other secured loans 
regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 on residential property; and, 
 Unregulated residential mortgages. 
The Protocol gives clear guidance on what the courts expect lenders and borrowers to have done prior to a claim being issued. The main aims of it were to ensure that the parties act fairly and reasonably with each other in any matters concerning the mortgage arrears, to encourage more pre action contact between lender and borrower and to enable efficient use of the court's time and resources. 

The introduction of the MPAP coincided with a fall of around 50% in the daily and weekly numbers of new mortgage repossession claims being issued in the courts as evidenced from administrative records. As orders are typically made (when deemed necessary by a judge) around 7 weeks (using 2011 data) after claims are issued, the downward impact on the number of mortgage possession orders being made was seen in the first quarter of 
2009. It has not been possible to adequately quantify the long term impact of the MPAP. This reflects the lack of a good comparator (although the MPAP was not introduced in Scotland, the big lenders in Scotland also operate south of the border and so lender behaviour is likely to be the same as in England and Wales), and the existence of other factors such as changing economic conditions, other measures introduced shortly after the MPAP, and lenders desire to minimise their losses. More details about the protocol can be viewed using the link: www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/courts/procedurerules/civil/contents/protocols/prot_mha.htm 
 

## Annex C: Map Information

The household projections used to produce the maps are based on the Department for Communities and Local Government 2012-based projections (which cover all local authorities in England) 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/household-projections  and StatsWales' 2011-based projections (which cover all local authorities within Wales) statswales.wales.gov.uk/Catalogue/Housing/Households/Projections/Local- Authority/2011-Based . Both are the latest datasets available for the areas they cover. In addition to this, the boundary lines were drawn using the Great Britain local authority districts (LADs) from the ONS Geoportal (geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/geoportal/catalog/main/home.page) which contains the digital vector boundaries for LADs in Great Britain as of December 2014. Therefore, the maps created may not reflect any boundary changes that may have occurred in 2015. 

 

## Annex D: Explanatory Notes

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics: 

 meet identified user needs;  are well explained and readily accessible;  are produced according to sound methods, and  are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.  
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. The statistics in this bulletin relate to cases in the county courts in England and Wales. Calendar year statistics are also provided.  

## Revisions

The statistics in the latest quarter are provisional, and are therefore liable to revision to take account of any late amendments to the administrative databases from which these statistics are sourced. The standard process for revising the published statistics to account for these late amendments is as follows: An initial revision to the statistics for the latest quarter may be made when the next edition of this bulletin is published. Further revisions may be made when the figures are reconciled at the end of the year. If revisions are needed in the subsequent year, these will be clearly annotated in the tables. 

For more information please see the Guide to Civil and Administrative Justice Statistics. 

## Symbols And Conventions

The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin: 

..    
no data available 
-   
Between one and five. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent  
           individuals being identified (r) 
Revised data 
(p) 
Provisional data 

## Contact Points For Further Information

Current and previous editions of this publication are available for download at:  
www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possessionstatistics Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: 
Sebastian Walters Tel: 0203 334 3529 Email: sebastian.walters@justice.gsi.gov.uk Queries on the wider policy implications of these statistics should be directed to the Department for Communities and Local Government's press office: 
Matthew Gorman Email: Matthew.Gorman@communities.gsi.gov.uk; 
Queries on statistics shown for 'Properties taken into possession' and other related statistics should be directed to the Council of Mortgage Lenders' press office on 020 7438 8922. Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to: 
Tara Rose Justice Statistics Analytical Services 7th Floor Ministry of Justice 102 Petty France London  
SW1H 9AJ Email: Statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk Other National Statistics publications, and general information about the official statistics system of the UK, are available from statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk