Repossessions and Evictions.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an independent organisation working to inspire social change through research, policy and practice. In their annual report posted only this week they reveal the definitive picture of poverty in the UK.
The topic from the report we are spotlighting is on housing and specifically on repossessions and evictions.
In their report they state that Mortgage repossessions are at their lowest level for 10 years with particularly low rates in the South of England. Landlord evictions have been rising for five years and the rate in London is more than double the other English regions.
There were 38,000 evictions in England and Wales in 2014/15, almost five times the number of mortgage repossessions of 8,000. The number of mortgage repossessions peaked in 2008/09 at 37,000, and excluding a small rise in 2011/12 has been falling sharply since. In 2014/15 the number of mortgage repossessions was at its lowest for ten years.
Conversely, following five consecutive years of increases, the number of evictions of renting households is at its highest for at least ten years. About half of these evictions were carried out by social landlords. The number of such evictions increased sharply in the year to 2013/14 (up by 3,100) but only slightly in the year to 2014/15 (up by 850) to reach 19,000.
The number of evictions by a private landlord is much smaller at 4,600 in 2014/15. Although it is double the number ten years earlier, it only accounts for 12 per cent of evictions.
Most of the recent rise in evictions has been though the use of ‘accelerated possession orders’ which can be used by social and private landlords with shorthold tenancies once the initial fixed tenancy period has ended (typically a 6 or 12 month period). It allows possession orders to be made by the court solely on the basis of written evidence and without calling parties to a hearing. Some 14,000 evictions in 2014/15 used accelerated possession orders. The number of such evictions has risen by at least 1,000 every year since 2009/10 and has driven the rise in overall landlord evictions.
To see more on this specific report or Housing in general or to see the full report “Monitoring Povery and Social Exclusion 2015” visit: https://www.jrf.org.uk/mpse-2015?utm_content=buffer7b2ac&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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