The number of households living in the private rented sector in England evicted by bailiffs has gone up 88% in the past five years, Ministry of Justice figures reveal.
In the 12 months to June, 22,592 private renting households in England were evicted by bailiffs compared to 11,989 in the same period in 2010/11.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, which analysed the quarterly mortgage and landlord possession statistics, said: “These figures demonstrate the terrible impact of crippling welfare cuts and a chronic lack of affordable homes on thousands of renters across England.”
The government statistics for the second quarter of this year, April to June, show that in England and Wales there was a slight rise of repossessions by bailiffs on behalf private landlords to 10,467 from 10,372 in the same period last year.
However, the number of warrants dropped marginally from 18,271 in the second quarter of last year to 18,186 in April to June.
The average time from a claim being issued to repossession by a county court bailiff lengthened to 41 weeks compared to 39.6 weeks in April to June 2015.
The figures show that of 34,008 landlord possession claims made in England and Wales in quarter two of this year, 11,695 (34.4%) led to orders; 3,008 (8.8%) led to warrants; and 415 (1.2%) led to repossessions by bailiffs.
Robb called on the government to “stop families from being pushed into homelessness, by ensuring the support available for struggling families reflects the sky-high cost of private renting”.
Mnn. Wonder about where the figures come from. Last Friday at Lincoln County Court there where 41 possesion cases- 6 private landlords rest housing association and councils!
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O, and I did tweet this info to Shelter on day
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Another Government generated crisis. It is the Government who have introduced rent allowance cuts in order to try to manipulate the rental figures down rather than leave rents to market forces. So these figures are not surprising. What, of course they fail to do is reflect on all the extra costs to all in working this system and the untold damage to peoples’ lives and distress. The costs of moving people around and putting them in temporary accommodation probably outweighs the costs of paying proper rents and paying landlords directly where tenants perhaps do not have the ability to handle their own finances. After all if all tenants were all financial experts they would probably not need to be on the benefits system in many cases.
The costs to landlords of having to evict tenants is also a problem with many losing rental income and legal fees plus the additional costs of needing the service of bailiffs also causes its own problems because Council choose to be in contempt of court by telling tenants to wait for the bailiffs to put off their duty a few weeks (contrary to government guidance).
All this whilst Shelter capitalise on the statistics to further their own interests. At the end of the day MOST landlords just want responsible, reliable tenants paying their open market rents on a regular basis and taking care of their home and being responsible with their neighbours. The image shelter promotes of landlords being greedy, nasty people whose sole intention is to evict tenants is inherently manipulative. Fact is landlords need a return on their investment and in general terms will only logically evict where tenants are not paying their rent or causing other problems such as anti-social behaviour or not using the property in a responsible manner. Some accidental landlords will of course want their property back to sell. I have no problem with true criminal landlords being targeted.
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There are probably some of the people on this statistic who would have been a repossession statistic in the other article except they couldn’t afford to buy to get repossessed.
Not trying to be funny but repossessions down and tenants evicted up !
There must be a correlation between the two?
Don’t forget 20 years ago 100% mortgages were almost the norm, why rent if you can buy?
Now cant buy, don’t earn enough money to pay the rent neither.
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If the existing tenants do not buy they will still remain in the property and be unavailable…..so who will Shelter blame next. Could the rise in evictions also be attributable to the greater number of properties in the PRS over the last five years plus Landlords becoming more astute at appointing bailiffs to protect their assets. Agree with nosharkbait……. Shelter lets see the Public Sector eviction stats.
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Call me a cynic but having dealt in this industry for many years, I can categorically say that tenants are more and more clued up as time goes on. At one time, they thought a Section 21 or Section 8 was an eviction notice, and as such, they made sure they scarpered.
Now, however, tenants know damn well they cannot be evicted or obtain council accommodation without a court order, and so most will wait until the bailiff turns up. This has two outcomes – one, they hold onto their existing accommodation without paying a penny or longer, and secondly, the council gives them a shiny new council house on account of them being homeless.
It’s a classic case of knowing their rights, but to hell with their responsibilities.
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