News from 8 September 2026
Read the current guide to tenancy rules in England.
Landlord possession claims rose in England and Wales in the second quarter of 2026, while warrants and repossessions fell. The Ministry of Justice recorded 23,635 claims, compared with 22,352 a year earlier.
What changed in April to June 2026
The Ministry of Justice separates landlord cases into social landlord claims, private landlord claims and accelerated claims. Compared with April to June 2025, accelerated claims rose by 16%, private landlord claims rose by 5%, and social landlord claims fell by 3%.
Of all landlord possession claims in the quarter, 8,569 were accelerated claims, 7,617 were private landlord claims and 7,449 were social landlord claims. These are court classifications, so they should not be treated as a simple count of individual landlords or tenancies.
The publication applies to England and Wales. It should not be extrapolated to Scotland or Northern Ireland, where the legal frameworks and court systems differ.
How the tenancy changes affect the figures
The reporting period straddles the commencement of the Renters’ Rights Act on 1 May 2026. That means the quarter contains one month before commencement and two months after it.
Crucially, the Ministry of Justice says it is not yet clear whether changes in the different types of claim can be attributed to the Act. The statistics describe court activity; they do not establish why landlords started claims or why cases progressed at different speeds. Firm conclusions about the legislation’s effect would require more quarters of evidence.
Landlords looking for background on the earlier trend can also read our previous review of landlord possession claims. The new release adds a further quarter of evidence, but it does not remove the need to consider each case on its own facts.
Timeliness and regional differences
The median time from a landlord claim to repossession was 27.1 weeks, compared with 27.9 weeks a year earlier. The median was 7.6 weeks from claim to order, 14.9 weeks from claim to warrant, and 9.4 weeks from warrant to repossession.
These national medians are descriptive, not a timetable for an individual case. Court workload, the type of claim, disputed issues and the steps taken by the parties can all affect progression.
There was also substantial geographical variation. London courts recorded 7,793 landlord claims, accounting for 33% of the England and Wales total. For private landlord claims measured against the estimated number of privately rented households, Enfield had the highest local-authority rate, followed by Barking and Dagenham and Newham.
