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The time legal action by private landlords to evict tenants takes to go through the courts increased to six months during the first quarter of 2025.
Latest data from the Ministry of Justice shows the timescale from posting a claim to repossessing a private rented home is 26.1 weeks - two weeks more than in the first quarter of last year.
Broken down, the timescale for the courts to process a claim from a private landlord is:
The data also shows landlord possession claims decreased from 24,869 to 23,976 (4 per cent), and warrants from 11,556 to 10,849 (6 per cent).
Meanwhile, orders increased from 18,140 to 18,713 (3 per cent), and repossessions from 6,938 to 7,308 (5 per cent).
The MOJ report said: "The reduction in landlord claims is driven by falls in both accelerated and private landlord claims. The median timeliness of landlord claims to repossessions has risen by two weeks when compared to the same period in 2024."
Landlord possession claims have shown a general increase since Q2 2021, peaking in Q3 2024 at 25,402 before dropping in the last two quarters to the current figure of 23,976. Accelerated claims are down 6 per cent, and private landlord claims are down 5 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2024.
In Q1 2025, 38 per cent (9,170) of all landlord possession claims were social landlord claims, compared to 31 per cent (7,340) private landlord claims and 31 per cent (7,466) accelerated claims. This contrasts with pre-COVID proportions when a majority of claims (around 60 per cent) were social landlord claims.
An increase in London drives the rise in order volumes. As in previous quarters, a concentration was seen in London, with 6,141 landlord orders at London courts in Q1 2025, accounting for 33 per cent of the total orders.
While claims decreased across most regions, 33 per cent of total claims were recorded in London (7,802). In London, there was a decrease of 3 per cent (from 8,004 in Q1 2024) for landlord claims and an increase of 12 per cent for landlord orders (from 5,491 in Q1 2024).
A decrease in London drove the 6 per cent decrease in landlord warrants compared to Q1 2024. Meanwhile, the Midlands and North East both saw decreases in the number of warrants over this period.
The largest regional number (3,604) was again found in London, making up 33 per cent of all landlord warrants. There was a decrease of 16 per cent for landlord warrants in London (from 4,286 in Q1 2024 to 3,604 in Q1 2025).
Private landlord repossessions were highest in the East London borough of Newham, with 154 tenants evicted.
Newham's neighbouring boroughs of Redbridge (93) and Barking and Dagenham (54) ranked second and third.
London boroughs account for four of the ten boroughs with the highest rate of private landlord repossessions. At the same time, 38 councils had no private landlord repossessions by county court bailiffs in the first quarter of 2025.