Mortgage and Landlord repossessions fall

Graeme Davy, a solicitor in the commercial litigation team, provides his comments on the latest mortgage and landlord repossession statistics.

Last Thursday saw the quarterly report published and as I would have expected, both have fallen, with mortgage repossessions being at their lowest in over a decade.

Assisted by low interest rates and new pre-action protocols implemented by government, the statistics tell a story of a government doing everything possible to reduce homelessness which in turn eases the strain on the public purse.

With interest rates low, property owners have been able to maintain mortgage payments and landlords have had the opportunity to be patient with non-paying tenants.  With interest rates expected to rise next year I would expect that in 12 months the picture will be slightly different. Whilst landlord possession claims have fallen, what is telling is that the number of claims that have resulted in a bailiff eviction has increased.  This suggests that when claims are issued there was no choice, with tenants being unable to rectify the position prior to the bailiff turning up.

Click here to read the full report.