The first full quarter of court figures since the Renters' Rights Act was published on 12 November 2026. What do they mean for landlords?
In short: Not a wider rise in evictions, yet. Landlord possession claims rose 21% in July to September 2026 because section 21 cases were rushed in before the 31 July deadline. Other claims were flat and repossessions fell.
Updated 12 November 2026
The key facts
In this article:
Landlord possession claims in England and Wales rose 21% in July to September 2026, the first full quarter since the Renters' Rights Act took effect on 1 May. The Ministry of Justice's possession statistics for July to September 2026, published on 12 November 2026, show the increase came almost entirely from accelerated claims.
An accelerated claim is the court route a landlord used when a tenant did not leave after a section 21 notice. Section 21 let a landlord recover a property without proving the tenant had broken the tenancy agreement. The Renters' Rights Act abolished it in England from 1 May, but landlords who had already served a valid notice had until 31 July to start court proceedings. Standard claims by private landlords did not rise at all, and repossessions by county court bailiffs fell.
| Landlord possession actions, England and Wales | July to September 2025 | July to September 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claims issued | 23,319 | 28,249 | +21% |
| Possession orders | 18,243 | 20,196 | +11% |
| Warrants | 11,512 | 10,760 | -7% |
| Repossessions by bailiffs | 7,680 | 6,886 | -10% |
| Median weeks from claim to repossession | 27.4 | 25.9 | 1.5 weeks faster |
Accelerated claims were up 68% on a year earlier, at 12,156, and made up 43% of all landlord claims issued, against 26% for standard private landlord claims and 31% for social landlords. The Ministry of Justice's statistician links the rise to the Act, noting that valid section 21 notices had to be served on or before 30 April 2026 and accelerated proceedings issued no later than 31 July 2026.
The quarter-by-quarter figures show a rush of section 21 cases, not a wider rise in evictions. Before the Act, accelerated claims were falling. A landlord only needed to go to court if the tenant stayed on after a section 21 notice expired. Accelerated claims picked up in April to June, as notices served in the months before 1 May ran out, and jumped again in July to September ahead of the 31 July cut-off.
| Possession claims | Jul to Sep 2025 | Jan to Mar 2026 | Apr to Jun 2026 | Jul to Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerated (section 21), England and Wales | 7,064 | 6,440 | 8,405 | 11,890 |
| Accelerated (section 21), London | 2,683 | 2,338 | 3,218 | 4,833 |
| Standard private landlord, England and Wales | 7,175 | 7,472 | 7,491 | 7,170 |
| Standard private landlord, London | 2,585 | 2,570 | 2,640 | 2,416 |
| Social landlord, England and Wales | 8,641 | 8,383 | 7,336 | 8,668 |
| Social landlord, London | 2,563 | 2,184 | 1,940 | 2,322 |
| All landlord claims, England and Wales | 22,880 | 22,295 | 23,232 | 27,728 |
| All landlord claims, London | 7,831 | 7,092 | 7,798 | 9,571 |
London figures, in italics, are included in the England and Wales figures above them. Figures are from the Ministry of Justice local authority data file, which places each claim by the property's location. They differ slightly from the court-based totals in the bulletin: 27,728 against 28,249 claims for July to September 2026.
Standard private landlord claims, the route that remains open, were flat nationally and fell 7% in London. There is no sign yet of large numbers of landlords moving to the section 8 grounds that now replace section 21. With no new section 21 notices possible after 30 April, accelerated claims should fall away over the coming quarters, and the figures from October onwards will be a slightly cleaner read of possession under the new rules.
The pipeline also matters. With a median of 25.9 weeks from claim to repossession, a claim issued in July is unlikely to reach a bailiff until the new year, so the fall in repossessions this quarter reflects cases started before the rush. Repossessions are likely to rise for a few quarters as the rushed section 21 cases work through the courts, before falling back.
London remains the centre of possession activity. London courts handled 9,483 landlord claims in July to September, 34% of the national total and up 21% on a year earlier. Possession orders in London fell 5% to 5,745, and warrants fell 23% to 3,233, so the rise in claims has not yet turned into more evictions in the capital either.
The outer boroughs carry the highest rates. Enfield had the most private landlord claims relative to its rented stock, at 543 per 100,000 privately rented households, followed by Barking and Dagenham at 436 and Newham at 418. London boroughs took eight of the ten highest rates in England and Wales. For repossessions, Newham (162 per 100,000) and Enfield (147) were second and third nationally, behind Peterborough (204).
Over the year to September 2026, London saw around 23,000 private and accelerated possession claims. Against roughly one million privately rented households, that is about 2.2% of London's private rented homes facing a possession claim in a year. This is our calculation from the Ministry's data, and the basis is set out under About the data.
The Ministry of Justice tracks each case through four stages, as its supporting guide to the statistics, published 21 May 2026, sets out.
The numbers narrow at each stage. In July to September there were 28,249 claims, 20,196 orders, 10,760 warrants and 6,886 repossessions, though these are counts of activity in the quarter rather than the same cases followed through. Many tenants leave or settle before bailiffs arrive, and those exits do not appear in the figures.
Where a case did end in repossession, the median time from claim was 25.9 weeks. Add the notice period before a claim can be issued, often with rent already unpaid, and the time to relet afterwards, and a single possession case can leave a landlord without rent for well over six months, before legal costs.
Across the 876 properties we manage, 11 cases went to court for possession between May 2025 and October 2026. That is around 0.8% of managed properties a year, against around 2.2% for London's private rented sector on the Ministry of Justice figures above. Our landlords were roughly a third as likely to end up in court.
The comparison has limits. First, 11 cases is a small number, so a handful either way moves our rate noticeably. Second, the London rate covers the year to September 2026, which includes the section 21 rush, and some accelerated claims come from social landlords, so it overstates the usual private landlord rate. Third, the two windows do not match exactly. Allowing for all three, the gap is still wide.
Our reading is that it comes from the decisions made before a tenant moves in: who sees the property, who is allowed to view it, and how thoroughly they are checked before an offer is accepted. Arrears are far easier to prevent at the application stage than to recover through the courts.
The surest way to stay out of the possession figures is to let to the right tenant at the start. With section 21 gone, a landlord can no longer end a tenancy without a clear reason, so the quality of the tenant chosen on day one now carries far more weight. Three steps make the difference.
The more people who see a listing, the more choice you have. Rightmove is where most London tenants search: across our full-service lets from July 2025 to August 2026, it accounted for 55.4% of enquiries and 57.7% of tenancies, once phone enquiries are allocated to the portal they came from. Our guide Why Rightmove is an essential part of advertising your rental property explains why a listing that is not there starts at a disadvantage.
A short set of screening questions that confirm move-in date, household income and household size filters out applicants who cannot afford the rent before you spend time on a viewing. Our analysis of 8,304 screening messages found two or three questions drew a 39.7% response rate, against 23.2% for four or more, so keep the first round brief. The detail is in our guide to screening viewing requests and The best way to find a tenant: quality first. Screening must stay lawful: refusing applicants because they receive benefits or have children is not allowed.
A full reference should verify income through Open Banking rather than payslips alone, take a reference from the current employer and the previous landlord, and run fraud checks on the documents supplied. Forged payslips are a growing problem, which is why bank data matters. Our article Tenant referencing: why it really matters covers the detail.
Not yet. Possession claims rose 21% in the first full quarter, driven by section 21 cases rushed in before the deadline, while repossessions by bailiffs fell 10% over the same period.
No. Section 21 notices had to be served by 30 April 2026 and accelerated court claims issued by 31 July 2026. Possession now relies on the grounds in section 8.
Where a case ended in repossession, the median time from claim was 25.9 weeks in July to September 2026, before the notice period and any time to relet.
Relative to their private rented stock, Enfield, Barking and Dagenham and Newham had the highest rates of private landlord claims in England and Wales in July to September 2026.
Choose the tenant carefully: advertise widely, pre-qualify applicants before viewings, and reference in depth, including Open Banking affordability checks, before accepting an offer.
National and London court figures come from the Ministry of Justice's possession statistics for July to September 2026, published on 12 November 2026. They cover county courts in England and Wales and count bailiff repossessions only; tenants who leave before bailiffs arrive are not counted. The quarterly breakdown by claim type uses the Ministry's local authority data file, which places each claim by property location and so differs slightly from the court-based totals in the bulletin.
Accelerated claims can come from social as well as private landlords, so the London rate of about 2.2% a year is slightly overstated for private landlords alone. London's private rented household count, roughly one million, is derived from the Ministry's own claim rates, which use 2021 Census tenure. Hello Neighbour figures come from our own records of court cases across managed properties from May 2025 to October 2026. Rightmove shares come from our lead source analysis of full-service enquiries from 15 July 2025 to 29 August 2026.
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Hello Neighbour
This article is general information for landlords letting property in England and is not legal advice.
Want every applicant checked before you accept an offer? Get Reference verifies income through Open Banking, takes employer and previous landlord references and runs credit, Right to Rent, identity and fraud checks for £30 per tenant or guarantor, with results in 48 hours as standard. Reference your tenant.