Landlords in England and Wales are waiting significantly longer to regain possession of their properties, with the average timeline increasing by more than 9% over the past year to almost 25 weeks, according to the latest research from Legal for Landlords.
Over the past four quarters to Q4 2025, the average number of quarterly possessions stood at 7,099, compared to 6,799 during the previous four quarters (Q1-Q4 2024), marking an annual increase of 4.4%.
The total number of annual repossessions is approaching pre-pandemic levels, in 2019 there were 30,319 landlord repossessions across England & Wales, (7,327 in 2020 as court activity was curtailed during the pandemic), since then, repossessions have increased year on year, reaching 27,582 in 2024 - the latest full year of data available - and some 21,441 taking place between Q1 and Q3 of 2025 alone (latest available data).
Sim Sekhon, Group CEO at Legal for Landlords, said: “These figures underline the growing challenges landlords now face when trying to regain possession of their properties. Even before the abolition of Section 21, we’re seeing possession cases take longer at every stage of the process, placing additional financial and emotional strain on landlords who are often dealing with serious rent arrears or serious tenancy breaches.
“The situation is also probably much worse than it appears because, while government data suggests the number of annual landlord possessions sits around 30,000, our own internal data suggests this figure could be at least 40% higher. Many cases, for example, never actually reach court due to paperwork issues.
“As the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force, possession claims are set to become more complex and far more reliant on an already overstretched court system. That makes it more important than ever for landlords to get the process right first time.”
Over the same period, the average time to progress from submitting a possession claim to completing a repossession rose by 9.1%, from 24.4 weeks to 26.6 weeks. This increase includes a 0.4% extension to the amount of time taken to progress from claim to the issuing of an order, and a 2.9% increase in the time between claim and a warrant being issued.
