London | The UK’s Eviction Capital

It’s a dubious title, but what we all probably thought was the case, has been confirmed in recently published Ministry of Justice figures.  London is the UK’s hotspot for the eviction process, where tenants and borrowers are more likely to be removed from their homes through the full judicial process of claiming repossession.  We don’t suppose that’s a figure that London particularly wants to be known for, but the data confirms this dubious accolade.

To us the more shocking statistics to come out of MoJ figures are confirmations of delay and cost to landlords who are taking problem tenants through the court process.  MoJ figures for 2018 show that overall landlords in the UK face a 4 month wait for court appointed bailiffs to remove tenants – and certain areas of the country have much higher figures for claims and possession orders than others.  London and the East of England lead the table of regions where tenant eviction rates are at their highest, with London being nearly 3x higher than the eastern region.

Were you one of the landlords who issued the 21,439 possession claims in the courts in 2018?

If you are one of the landlords who issued the 21,439 possession claims in the courts in 2018 we would like to hear about your experience.  Did you find the court process efficient?  Which was your favourite court?

Did you find the county court bailiffs efficient in that they carried out the eviction within 7-10 days of the possession order being made? 

It’s important that we start to help build up a picture of where the court system is working to deliver justice to landlords, and where it isn’t.  If we put a ticket on the cost, court proceedings by private landlords in 2018 cost an average of £4,341.22.  Multiply that figure by the 21,439 cases that were issued, and it comes to a staggering cost to the landlord community of over £93,000,000.  For that sort of cost, the private rental sector should be building houses, not waiting for courts to process the paperwork.

And with more impact on the landlord’s personal wallet, it took an average of 4 months to carry out the repossession of the property – or 118 days of lost rent.

According to the Homelet Rental Index (see https://homelet.co.uk/homelet-rental-index) the average monthly rent in London now stands at £1,588 a month.  So, if a landlord is waiting 4 months to remove tenants in the capital that’s potentially lost income of £6352.

Outside London the UK average monthly rent drops down to £775.  A landlord outside London waiting to remove tenants in other parts of the country could on average be losing £3100 just in rent for the same 118 days – and this doesn’t include legal fees to recover possession.

Our take on this remains, as we have said in our previous blog posts, that we don’t like the word “eviction”, but we do support the need for enforcement services to be delivered efficiently.

The solutions we provide help landlords navigate the legal process by ensuring Notices are served correctly, claims are issued promptly, and a possession order is made which can be transferred to the High Court for enforcement within days.   Shergroup’s Enforcement Team can shave 3 weeks from the average time taken to regain possession using our transfer up process.  Not only does our process save the loss in rent, but we give Landlords the certainty of a fixed date for the eviction to be carried out.  We also apply for the necessary permissions from the High Court to ensure complete compliance with the rules for eviction of private tenants.

So, if you are a landlord who is feeling the pinch due to delays in the eviction process in your local court, or courts at large, please share your experience of the court system with us.  We would like to hear from you on great and not-so-great experiences which will help us put all these government statistics into context.

And if any of this type of problem is affecting you now our Business Solution Advisors can guide you through how to save time and money with a few simple fixes to your current approach.  We offer a free no-obligation review of any possession order to get you on the right track.

Source | https://www.simplelandlordsinsurance.com/landlord-hub/features/evictions-in-the-uk