Landlords waiting longer for possessions as Renters’ Rights Bill approaches

Bad news for landlords in the latest Ministry of Justice possession figures: the wait for repossessions through the Section 8 eviction process is getting even longer.

Between April and June 2025, the average time from claim to repossession climbed to 27.9 weeks, up from 25.4 weeks in the same period last year.

Leaving out 2020 and 2021, when repossessions were prevented by the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the longest wait landlords have faced since 2017.

What’s behind the increase? The time it takes to get a possession order is unchanged from last year at 7.9 weeks. But it now takes a week longer to get a warrant for possession when tenants don’t comply with the initial order. Once the landlord gets their warrant, it also takes an extra 1.5 weeks to complete the possession.

Not all bad news?

Nevertheless, the number of landlord repossession actions has fallen since last year. Claims are down 9% to 22,364, while 6,709 repossessions were completed, a fall of 4%.

That may mean that landlords and their agents are screening tenants more carefully or engaging earlier to prevent issues escalating to the level of an eviction.

The government’s Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, which launched two years ago this month and gives free advice to tenants at risk of repossession, may also be helping to get tenancies back on track.

However, it also means that possession timelines are getting longer even though the courts have fewer cases to handle. Once the Renters' Rights Bill comes into force (expected to be early next year), their workload is set to expand as all evictions will have to go through the courts.

To date, the government has refused to release its Justice Impact Test (JIT) on the Renters’ Rights Bill. The JIT assesses the impact a bill will have on the court system, and preparing one is a mandatory part of the lawmaking process for any bill that could have any impact. However, in response to a Freedom of Information request from Reapit, the government said that the JIT is an internal document not intended for public release.

In an earlier letter, Baroness Taylor, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said that the government expects the Bill to bring down the number of court cases in the long term. But landlords and agents are worried that the extra burden will collapse the court system.

How can agents help?

Arrears recovery will be key, both to prevent evictions in the first place and to ensure that rent keeps flowing during the eviction process.  

Agents may also want to make sure that their landlords are aware of their options when it comes to evictions. The wait time in the government statistics only covers evictions carried out by the county courts. But landlords can apply to the county court to transfer a warrant of possession to the High Court, and have it carried out by High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs). There is a £123 fee for applying and HCEOs will cost more than county court bailiffs, but it can help landlords recover possession more quickly.

But prevention is even better than cure, and so careful tenant screening is essential. At this point, any tenant who is given a 12-month assured shorthold tenancy is likely to receive the extra protection of the Renters’ Rights Bill before their fixed term runs out.