Possession actions: landlord claims up 21%, and a third of them are in London

On 12 November 2026 the Ministry of Justice published court statistics on possession actions for the third quarter. The picture splits in two: mortgage holders can breathe out, renters cannot.

Mortgage actions have eased

All four measures fell against the same quarter of 2025.

Lenders' claims came to 5,637 against 6,191, down 9%. Orders 4,096 against 4,833, down 15%. Warrants 3,459 against 3,921, down 12%. And repossessions by county court bailiffs 1,122 against 1,237, down 9%.

The department is cautious: these are early signs of a decrease and it is not yet known whether the trend will continue.

But the process now takes almost a year

The median time from claim to repossession has risen to 52.0 weeks against 46.3 a year earlier. That is exactly a year, and the longest since the third quarter of 2023.

The increase sits in the later stages. Claim to order is 7.9 weeks, essentially unchanged. But claim to warrant is now 38.4 weeks against 33.0.

For a borrower that matters more than it looks: on outright orders, which are almost two thirds of cases, the median is 49.0 weeks. On suspended orders it is 109.9 weeks — more than two years.

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Rented homes go the other way: claims up a fifth

Landlord claims came to 28,249 against 23,319, up 21%. Orders 20,196 against 18,243, up 11%.

Yet warrants fell — 10,760 against 11,512, down 7% — and so did repossessions: 6,886 against 7,680, down 10%.

The reason for the jump is named directly: accelerated claims rose 68%, following the commencement of the Renters' Rights Act. The Act received royal assent on 27 October 2025 and came into force on 1 May 2026. Valid Section 21 notices generally had to be served on or before 30 April 2026, and accelerated possession proceedings issued no later than 31 July. Landlords were catching the last train.

The make-up of claims has changed beyond recognition. Accelerated claims are now 43% (12,156), social landlord claims 31% (8,802) and private landlord claims 26% (7,291). Before the pandemic, around 60% were social landlord claims.

London is a third of the country

The concentration in the capital is as high as ever.

London courts took 9,483 landlord claims over the quarter — 34% of the England and Wales total — and 5,745 orders, or 28%. Warrants numbered 3,233, which is 30% of all.

And here is the curious part. Nationally orders rose 11%, while in London they fell 5%, from 6,024 to 5,745. Claims rose by the same 21% as everywhere else. London warrants dropped by 23%, from 4,217 to 3,233 — and it was the capital that pulled the national figure down.

By district: the highest rate of private landlord claims is in Enfield, at 543 per 100,000 privately rented households. For social housing, Mid Sussex leads with 675.

On mortgages the City of London formally tops the table at 441 claims per 100,000, but the department warns that the City's population is tiny and the rate there is less robust.

Eviction from a rented home is faster than mortgage repossession

The median from claim to repossession is 25.9 weeks, 1.6 weeks shorter than a year earlier. Claim to order is 7.7 weeks, claim to warrant 15.0, warrant to repossession 9.1.

Compare that with the mortgage figure of 52 weeks. A tenant travels the same road in half the time.

What to do if a notice arrives

The practical point: the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service advises both tenants and homeowners as soon as you are served with a written notice asking you to leave your home.

The key detail: there is no means test. The service is not tied to legal aid financial eligibility rules. You only have to show evidence that you are at risk of losing your home.

And one more. The law requires at least 4 and no more than 8 weeks between claim and court hearing, and a possession order typically gives around 4 weeks to leave. Negotiation remains possible at any stage — even after a warrant has been issued.