New figures showing that landlords face a growing amount of time in getting judgement on repossession cases from the courts are boosting calls for dedicated housing courts to be established.

Government statistics published recently showed that it now takes private landlords an average of 22.6 weeks, from making a claim to the courts for a property to be repossessed to it actually happening, up from 22.5 weeks in the second quarter of this year, which is the third quarterly increase in a row.

Responding to this, David Smith, policy director at the Residential Landlords Association said: “The courts are failing both landlords and tenants. A systematic programme of court closures, coupled with cuts to the court budgets have made it harder for anyone in the private rented sector to get justice in a timely way when something goes wrong.

“With all parties wanting to develop longer tenancies in the rental market, this will only work if landlords can swiftly and easily repossess properties through the court in legitimate circumstances. A failure to achieve this will make such tenancies a pipe dream.”