Mortgage and landlord possession statistics for the third quarter in England and Wales have been published.

Altogether in Q3 the Ministry of Justice recorded 1,210 mortgage repossessions by county court bailiffs and 9,689 landlord repossessions by bailiffs.

The figures show that mortgage possession claims, orders for possession, warrants of possession and repossessions by county court bailiffs were all down from the same quarter last year.

They were down by respectively 10%, 22%, 31% and 15%.

However, the average time from claim to repossession by country court bailiffs is up, standing at over two and a half years, or 140.9 weeks. The figure compares with 104.5 weeks in the same quarter last year.

The figures also show that landlord possessions are down.

Landlord possession claims are down 11%, orders for possession down 10%, warrants of possession down 8% and repossessions by county court bailiffs down 14%.

However, as with mortgage possessions, average time from claim to repossession by bailiffs has gone up, from 41.3 weeks in Q3 last year to 42.5 weeks in the same quarter this year.

The Ministry of Justice said that 23% of landlord possession claims lead to a repossession by county court bailiffs.

The Residential Landlords Association said the statistics showed that landlord repossession claims have fallen 21% over the last two years.

RLA policy director David Smith said: “The figures are a timely reminder that landlords do not seek to repossess properties lightly.

“With tenants also living an average of four years in private rented homes, the sector is stepping up to the demand for long-term housing without the need for heavy-handed legislation.”

Full statistics here