Dozens of landlord repossession claims threatened renters in Hastings last year

People looking at house price signs displayed in the window of an estate agents in Lewes, East Sussex, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said that the average UK house price has surged by £24,000 during the past year of coronavirus lockdowns. Issue date: Wednesday May 19, 2021.

Landlords in Hastings filed dozens of repossession claims last year, new figures show.

Across England and Wales, landlord repossession claims rose by more than a tenth in the three months to December 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, including a 16% increase in Section 21 notices.

Earlier this week, Housing Secretary Michael Gove said the Government will ban no-fault evictions before the next general election.

The Government first vowed to end Section 21 evictions – where a tenant can be evicted without a reason – in 2019, but the rental reforms have not yet been passed.

Housing charity Shelter said the reform “must deliver the meaningful change it promised to England’s 11 million private renters almost five years ago”.

Ministry of Justice figures show 61 claims to repossess a property were made by landlords in Hastings between October and December 2023 – fewer than the same quarter in 2022 when there were 77.

Of these, 30 were Section 21 notices.

Nationally, landlord repossessions claims increased from approximately 20,400 to 23,400, while Section 21 notices reached 7,600 in the last quarter of 2023, compared with 6,600 in 2022.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “We’re pleased to hear the Housing Secretary reaffirm his commitment to ban no fault evictions before the next election.

“But these figures show that renters are still being marched out of their homes in their thousands, while vested interests in Parliament manoeuvre to weaken urgently needed reforms.”

She added: “Without serious amends, this bill won’t be worth the paper it’s written on. There cannot be any loopholes to banning no-fault evictions and it must not be tied to unspecified court reforms.

“It must deliver the meaningful change it promised to England’s 11 million private renters almost five years ago.”

Meanwhile, the figures also show tenants across England and Wales were evicted from their homes on approximately 6,600 occasions in the latest quarter, including 39 evictions in Hastings.

Of them, 22 evictions in the area were carried out by court ordered bailiffs as a result of Section 21 proceedings.

Francesca Albanese, executive director of policy and social change at homelessness charity Crisis, said: “These figures are a shameful reminder of just how volatile renting a home is.