## Mortgage And Landlord Possession Statistics In England And Wales, July To September 2017 (Provisional) Main Points

Since July to September 2016, the number of mortgage possession claims and orders made in county courts has increased, and warrants and repossessions continue to fall. All landlord possession actions continue to decrease in line with the long-term trend.   

Mortgage possession: 
claims and orders have 
 
increased for the third 
quarter. 
Mortgage possession **claims** and **orders** have **risen** 
again (compared to the same quarter last year), a continuation of the increase seen since October to December 2016, but figures remain at a similar level to the past two years. 
Mortgage average time 
(from claim to possession 
 
Over the last two years, time from claim to repossession 
has remained variable between 107-141 weeks.  
action) has decreased  
 All stages of landlord 
 
possession actions have 
decreased  
Landlord possession claims, **orders** for possession, warrants of possession and **repossessions** by county court bailiffs have decreased, continuing the long-term downward trend seen since April to June 2014, albeit a slow down on the decrease seen in the initial stages.  
Mortgage possession 
 
claims and repossession 
rates remain at low levels 
The City of London had the highest rate of mortgage 
possession claims at 59 per 100,000 household, but this 
corresponded to just three properties. The second highest rate was in Middlesbrough with 44 per 100,000 
household. **Mortgage repossession rates** are highest in Burnley with 29 per 100,000 households.  
Landlord possession 
 
claims and repossessions 
highest in London 
The highest rates of landlord possession actions are concentrated in London (9 of 10 highest claim rates and 
16 of 20 highest repossession rates). 

This publication provides mortgage and landlord possession statistics in July to September 2017, compared to the same quarter the previous year. A data visualisation tool accompanies this bulletin and can be accessed here. For technical detail, please refer to the accompanying supporting document. 

For feedback related to the content of this publication, please contact us at CAJS@justice.gsi.gov.uk 
 

## 1.  Overview Of Mortgage Possession Claims And Order Possession Actions Have Increased For The Fourth Quarter

Mortgage possession **claims** (4,757) and orders for **possession** (3,376), have both increased by 6% and 26% respectively (compared to the same quarter last year). However, while these figures are again an increase against the previous year, they remain broadly in line with the recent trend, seen since April to June 2015. 

## 

Despite decreases in warrants and repossessions against the previous year, the magnitude of the decreases are small, indicating that volumes may be stabilising. 

 

## 

Mortgage possession claims fell from a peak of 26,419 in April to June 2009 before stabilising in April to June 2015 (4,849). In July to September 2017, claims for possession increased by 6% to 4,757 claims (compared to the same quarter in 2016). Orders for possession followed a similar trend to mortgage claims, falling from a peak of 23,850 orders in July to September 2009, but continuing to decline to 2,685 orders at July to September 2016, the lowest recorded level of the series. Between this point and the most recent quarter, orders have increased by 26% to 3,376. However, this remains broadly in line with the volume seen at April to June 2015, of 3,426. Orders overall have increased, with suspended orders up 33% and outright orders up up 22%. The South East had the greatest rise of all regions against the previous year. The fall in the number of mortgage possession actions since 2008 coincides with lower interest rates, a proactive approach from lenders in managing consumers in financial difficulties and other interventions, such as the Mortgage Rescue Scheme and the introduction of the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol. Additionally, the downward trend seen in recent years mirrors that seen in the proportion of owner-occupiers. 

## 2. Mortgage Possession Action Timeliness Average Time Between Claims Being Issued To Repossession Has Decreased.

The average time for **orders** to be **issued** has continued to **slowly fall**. For issues of warrants, the time taken has increased slightly.  
 
Over the last two years, time from claim to repossession has remained variable between 
107-141 weeks. Compared to July to September 2016, this has **decreased** to 111.2 
weeks from 140.7 weeks.  
Since the same quarter the previous year, fewer claims progressed to orders, warrants and **repossessions** both within 6 months of the claim date and over a 5 year period. 

## Number Of Weeks Taken From Initial Mortgage Claim To…

| Orders                            |                               |
|-----------------------------------|-------------------------------|
|                                   |                               |
|                                   |                               |
| The average no. of weeks between  |                               |
| claims and repossessions has      |                               |
| decreased                         |                               |
| The average no. of weeks between  |                               |
| claims and warrants has increased |                               |
| slightly                          |                               |
| The average no. of weeks between  |                               |
| claims and court orders decreased |                               |
| slightly                          |                               |
|                                   |                               |
|                                   |                               |
|                                   |                               |
| Claims to warrants has            |                               |
| Claims to orders have             | Claims to reposessions have   |
| slightly increased from 83.2      |                               |
| decreased from 15.2 (Jul-         | decreased from 140.7 (Jul-Sep |
| (Jul-Sep 2016) to                 |                               |
| 2016) to                          | Sep 2016)                     |
|                                   |                               |
| to                                |                               |
|                                   |                               |
| 83.8 weeks (Jul-Sep 2017)         |                               |
|                                   |                               |
| 13.9 weeks (Jul-Sep 2017)         |                               |
|                                   |                               |
| 111.2 (Jul-Sep 2017)              |                               |

 The above charts distinguish the timeliness of possession claims at the different stages of a case. It is worth noting that timeliness can be affected by various factors. For example, the final two charts take account of the amount of time between the court order being issued and the claimant, such as the mortgage lender, issuing a warrant of possession. The long-term increases in the average time from claim to warrant and claim to repossession shown above, are due to a small number of claims dating from early 2004, where claimants have issued their warrants in the most recent quarter (possibly due to defendants recently breaking the terms of the mortgage agreements put in place at the start of the process). 

 

|                                          |         | Proportion of claims to reach each stage    |
|------------------------------------------|---------|---------------------------------------------|
| In initial 6 months (first two quarters) |         | 5 year period                               |
|                                          |         |                                             |
| Jul-Sep 2016                             |         |                                             |
| Jul-Sep 2017                             |         |                                             |
|                                          | Jul-Sep |                                             |
|                                          |         |                                             |
| 2016                                     |         |                                             |
| Jul-Sep 2017                             |         |                                             |
| Orders                                   |         |                                             |
| 61%                                      |         |                                             |
| 58%                                      |         |                                             |
|                                          | 67%     |                                             |
| 64%                                      |         |                                             |
| Warrants                                 |         |                                             |
| 15%                                      |         |                                             |
| 14%                                      |         |                                             |
|                                          | 35%     |                                             |
| 32%                                      |         |                                             |
| Repossessions                            |         |                                             |
| 6%                                       |         |                                             |
| 5%                                       |         |                                             |
|                                          | 19%     |                                             |
| 17%                                      |         |                                             |

Over the last 5 years, 64% of claims received orders of repossession; 32% received warrants, and 17% ended in repossession (by county court bailiff), an overall decrease in the proportion of cases reaching each stage compared to the previous 5-year period. Overall fewer claims progressed to orders, warrants and **repossessions** both within 6 
months of the claim date and over a 5 year period. 

## 3. Overview Of Landlord Possession All Stages Of Landlord Possession Actions Have Decreased

Landlord possession **claims** (34,172), **orders** for possession (25,266), **warrants** of possession (16,935) and **repossessions** by county court bailiffs (8,806) decreased 
by 1%, 3%, 9% and 10% respectively (compared to the same quarter last year; Jul-
Sep 2016). This is in line with the **downward trend** seen since April to June 2014, 
albeit a slow down on the decrease for initial stages and possibly indicating a change in trend for claims from 2016 Q4. 


Seasonally adjusted figures for possession claims and orders also show a fall in the scale of the decrease, possibly suggesting that volumes are plateauing. 

The majority **(62%)** (21,179) of landlord possession claims were **social landlord** claims, 22% 
(7,621) were **accelerated** claims and 16% (5,372) were **private landlord** claims.  
 
Whilst overall orders have fallen, suspended orders have increased 2% on the previous year. Since July to September 2016, there has been a decrease in suspended orders within the London and North West regions, but an increase or stabilisation in all other regions. The largest increase in suspended orders was seen in the South West. 

## 4. Landlord Possession Timeliness Time Taken For Landlord Possession Claims To Repossession Has Decreased

 

Timeliness for landlord possession actions has remained fairly stable across the last 5 years, with slight fluctuations in time from claim to warrant and repossession in the most recent quarters. However all are stable fluctuations around historic levels; 11 weeks (orders), 37 weeks (warrants) and 43 weeks (repossessions). 
Number of weeks taken from initial landlord claim to … 

| Orders     |     |     | Warrants    |     |     | Repossessions    |
|------------|-----|-----|-------------|-----|-----|------------------|
Claims to orders have 
Claims to reposessions 
Claims to warrants have 
increased slightly from 
have **decreased** from 42.6 
increased from 36.7 weeks 
11.3 weeks (Jul-Sep 2016) 
weeks (Jul-Sep 2016) to  
(Jul-Sep 2016) to  
to 11.4 weeks (Jul-Sep 
41.2 (Jul-Sep 2017) 
37.8 (Jul-Sep 2017) 
2017) 
Proportion of claims to reach each stage 
In initial 6 months (first two quarters) 
 
5 year period 
 
Jul-Sep 2016 
Jul-Sep 2017 
 
Jul-Sep 2016 
Jul-Sep 2017 
Orders 
67% 
68% 
 
74% 
75% 
Warrants 
23% 
24% 
 
40% 
40% 
Repossessions 
12% 
13% 
 
24% 
25% 

Over the last 5 years, 75% of claims progressed to orders of repossession; 40% to warrants, and a quarter ended in repossession.  
The **proportion** of landlord possession claims reaching each possession stage increased slightly in July to September 2017 compared with the same period last year, in the initial 6 
months from the date of claim. Fewer absolute cases are reaching each stage (reflecting the decrease in overall case volumes), however a larger proportion of these are reaching the subsequent stage. Over the 5 year period, there was an increase for orders and repossessions, but warrants remained stable. 

## 5. Regional Possession Claims

The City of London had the highest rate of **mortgage** possession claims at 59 per 100,000 
households, but this corresponded to just three properties due to City of London's small population. The second highest rates was in **Middlesbrough** (44 per 100,000 households). 

Landlord possession claim rates were highly concentrated in **London**, with 9 of the 10 highest rates. **Barking and Dagenham** had the highest rate (443 per 100,000 
households). 

## Mortgage

The number of mortgage possession claims per 100,000 households by local authority ranged from 2 in Cambridge, to 59 in City of London.  
Of the top ten highest rates, three (Oldham, Rossendale and Halton) are in the North West. The Isles of Scilly, Ryedale, Rutland and Tewkesbury had no mortgage possession claims. 

 

## Landlord

Suffolk **Coastal** showed the lowest rate of landlord possession claims (18 per 100,000 
households) whilst **Barking and Dagenham** 
showed the highest (443 per 100,000 households). The Isles of Scilly had no landlord possession claims. 

London boroughs account for **9 of the 10** local authorities with the highest **rate** of landlord claims. 

Outside the London boroughs, **Halton** was ranked 8th out of the top 10 highest rates, with 319 per 100,000 households.  

## 6. Regional Repossessions (By County Court Bailiffs)

Mortgage repossessions are highest in **Burnley** with 29 per 100,000 households. Landlord repossessions are concentrated in London **(16 of the 20 highest rates)** and Slough, Bournemouth, **Luton** and **Northampton.** 

## Mortgage

Burnley had the highest number of mortgage repossessions by county court bailiffs (29 per 100,000 households) in July to September 2017.  
No repossessions by county court bailiffs were recorded during this period in 77 local authorities. 

## Landlord

London local authorities account for 16 of the 20 boroughs with the **highest rate** of landlord repossessions, the highest being in **Newham**, at 180 per 100,000 households, followed by Barking and Dagenham and **Brent** at 150 
and 149 per 100,000 households respectively. There were five local authorities with no landlord repossessions by county court bailiffs in July to September 2017 (Isles of Scilly, Ryedale, Hart, City of London and Hambleton).  

## Further Information

The statistics in the latest quarter are provisional and revisions may be made when the next edition of this bulletin is published and when the figures are reconciled at the end of the year. If revisions are needed in subsequent years, these will be annotated in the tables. 

## Accompanying Files As Well As This Bulletin, The Following Products Are Published As Part Of This Release:

 
A supporting guide providing further information on how the data is collected and processed, including a guide to the csv files, as well as legislation relevant to mortgage possessions and  background information. 
 
A set of overview tables, covering key sections of this bulletin. 
 
CSV files of the map data and the figures by local authority and county court.  
A data visualisation tool available at: public.tableau.com/profile/moj.analysis#!/ 
National Statistics status National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value. All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the Authority's regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate. 

It is the Ministry of Justice's responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored. 

Contact Queries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical Services, in the Ministry of Justice: 
Bridgette Miles - email: CAJS@justice.gsi.gov.uk Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: 
Simon Barrett- email: simon.barrett@justice.gsi.gov.uk  
And queries on the wider policy implications of these statistics should be directed to the Department for Communities and Local Government's press office: 
Philippa Silverman - email: Philippa.Silverman@communities.gsi.gov.uk  
 

## Next Update: 8 February 2017

URL: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics-julyto-september-2017 

© Crown copyright Produced by the Ministry of Justice 
Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk