Property owners across Britain face a growing problem - they cant get their houses back from bad tenants due to huge delays in the system (which now takes about half-a-year)
Paul Shamplina from Landlord Action points out a real-life case: “The court-system feels broken; its the worst situation Iʼve seen.“ His organization found that some north-east London property-owners must wait until mid-2025 to get their houses back
Ministry of Justice data shows the problem is getting worse: right now it takes 24-and-a-half weeks to complete an eviction - thats longer than last years wait. The main issue: there are only about 300 bailiffs for all of England and Wales
Some changes might make things even harder; Labour party wants to:
- Stop no-fault evictions by summer 2025
- Make rent-debt time longer (3 months instead of 2)
- Add more notice-time for tenants
- Need court approval for all evictions
The housing market shows signs of stress too - UK rents went up 8.4% since last fall; London saw an even bigger jump at 9.8%. Meanwhile section-21 evictions hit an eight-year peak after Labour announced its plans