The final quarter of 2016 saw 26,676 court orders issued for the eviction of private rental sector tenants.
According to the survey by Your Move and Reeds Rains, the number of orders was down by 0.4% in comparison to quarter three of 2015. Annually, there were 5.3% fewer evictions than the 28,167 recorded in the same three-month period in 2014.
Falls
Data from the report indicates that 32% of private tenants are in serious rent arrears, of more than two months rent. At present there are 82,900 renting households in the serious arrears bracket.
Cases of landlords falling behind with their own finances have also dropped. In the final three months of 2015, there were 5,500 cases of buy-to-let mortgage arrears, a fall from the 3.5% recorded in the previous quarter.
Annually, the total number of buy-to-let mortgages in arrears has fallen by 54% after totalling 11,900 cases in the last quarter of 2014.
Eviction orders for tenants fall in Q4 of 2015
Growing
Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains, noted, ‘landlords and the buy-to-let industry have come in for serious criticism over the last year-but the overwhelming evidence points to a vital, growing and successful industry.’[1]
‘Landlords in the UK are providing more homes to let every month, expanding supply for tenants-who avoid any serious problems paying the rent in more than 98 per cent of cases. When late rent does happen, landlords appear to be extremely flexible in the majority of cases and eviction orders and decreasingly necessary. Buy-to-let mortgages are also increasingly reliable for lenders, as landlords are ever less likely to fall into arrears themselves,’ Mr Gill added.[2]
[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/3/over-26-000-eviction-orders-served-on-private-tenants-in-one-quarter