Bailiff evictions by social landlords rise 10% in a year, latest statistics show

The government said this was in contrast to the pre-Covid era, when a majority of claims (around 60%) were by social landlords.

Overall accelerated claims, a legal process where a tenant can be removed in a quicker timeframe, fell 17%.

Landlords can only use the accelerated possession procedure to gain a possession order when a valid Section 21 notice has been served.

Renting campaign group Generation Rent said the accelerated claim figures were the “closest figures we have” on Section 21 evictions, though most recipients will move out before their landlord can apply to court.

Dan Wilson Craw, Generation Rent’s deputy chief executive, told Inside Housing: “It’s possible we’ll see an increase in these [accelerated claims] in the first half of this year – though landlords have had since 2019 to prepare for the end of Section 21. 

“The number of accelerated claims peaked in 2024, when rents were rising rapidly, leading some landlords to turf out tenants to re-let, and a cut in capital gains tax had prompted more landlords to sell up. During 2025 they were on a downward trajectory as rent rises slowed.”

The MoJ’s release said it was unclear whether the falls in the most recent quarter are due to seasonal variation or a “change in behaviour” in advance of the Renters’ Rights Act coming into force on 1 May.

A spokesperson for the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) said the most recent data reveals the inadequacy of government social housing policy.

“The hyper-focus on building new supply without taking into consideration the affordability of housing is leading to an increased number of evictions by social landlords,” the spokesperson said.

“We need more properties at ‘social’ rent levels, which are capped at 50% of market rents, but these are in sharp decline, with almost twice as many social rent tenancies lost last year compared to the year before,” they added.

The statistics also show that despite possession orders brought by private landlords falling, it took the courts an average of over eight months to process and enforce cases.

Responding to the latest figures, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: “It is entirely unacceptable that fewer possession cases are taking longer for the courts to process and enforce.

“If the backlog is increasing now, before the government’s reforms begin to bite in May, there is no hope that the system will be able to cope with what is to come.”