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Property experts fear private landlords are clearing out problem tenants in advance of eviction law changes triggered by the Renters' Rights Act.
Buy-to-let evictions were up 9 per cent between July and September, compared with the same period last year, according to the latest Ministry of Justice data.
The data shows 7,641 private rented homes were repossessed through the courts by landlords. However, the number of claims, orders and warrants all decreased.
The government has announced that Section 21 no-fault evictions will be abolished from May 1, 2026, but Section 21 eviction notices issued up to April 30, 2026, will remain valid, provided court repossession proceedings start within the applicable period - the latest being July 31, 2026 (but can be earlier).
At the same time as repossession numbers rise, proceedings are taking longer to navigate the courts.
Timeliness for warrants is up 1.3 weeks, and repossession orders are taking three weeks longer to go through.
The median average from claim to repossession is up to 27.4 weeks, up from 24.4 weeks in the same period of 2024.
Meanwhile, claims to order median timeliness is 7.6 weeks, down by less than a week from the same period in 2024. Claims to warrant median timeliness is 15.3 weeks, up from 14 weeks in the same period last year.
The MoJ report says: "Landlord possession claims showed a general increase from Q2 2021 peaking in Q3 2024 at 25,402. These have fallen overall and are currently at 23,327. Within the landlord possession actions, accelerated claims are down 15 per cent, and private landlord claims are down 6 per cent, compared to the same quarter in 2024."
The MoJ added that in Q3 2025, 38 per cent (8,773) of all landlord possession claims were social landlord claims, compared to 31 per cent (7,314) private landlord claims and 31 per cent (7,240) accelerated claims. This contrasts with pre-COVID proportions when a majority of claims (around 60 per cent) were social landlord claims.
The fall in claims and orders volumes is common across most of England and Wales.
As in previous quarters, proceedings are concentrated in London, with 7,813 landlord claims and 6,052 landlord orders before courts in the capital for Q3 2025, accounting for 33 per cent each of the category totals nationwide.
London also saw a decrease of 11 per cent (from 8,817 in Q3 2024) for landlord claims, while landlord orders were down 9 per cent (from 6,663 in Q3 2024).
London councils accounted for 7 of the 10 local authorities with the highest rate of private landlord claims. Barking and Dagenham, East London, had the highest rate of private landlord claims (135 claims or 755 ). East Devon had the lowest rate at 9.3 claims.per 100,000 buy-to-let households.
London took six of the 10 councils with the highest number of private landlord repossessions. Three East London councils grabbed the top spots - Newham with 135 repossessions, followed by Redbridge with 84 and Barking and Dagenham with 42.