Private landlords and lenders lodged 28,610 possession claims across England and Wales in the year to March 2026, according to LegalforLandlords analysis of Ministry of Justice data.
The new point is not simply that claims remain high. It is that this level of court action persisted across four quarters even before the post-Section 21 system had fully worked through the courts, with London alone accounting for 10,186 claims – almost 36 percent of the total.
For landlords, that matters now because the market story of strong demand and scarce supply has not removed possession risk. Rent arrears, tenancy breaches and antisocial behaviour can still drag owners into a court process that is costly, slow and increasingly paperwork-heavy.
London remains the centre of possession pressure
The earlier Ministry of Justice figures covered by Landlord Knowledge before Section 21 ended had already shown possession claims climbing as landlords tried to regain control of properties before the rules changed. The latest year-long view suggests that pressure was not confined to one quarter.
LegalforLandlords said 28,610 claims were issued across the four quarters from Q2 2025 to Q1 2026. London recorded by far the highest regional total at 10,186, followed by the South East with 3,396, the North West with 3,255 and the West Midlands with 2,402.
At local authority level, Newham topped the table with 984 claims. Birmingham followed with 691, ahead of Redbridge with 615, Enfield with 588 and Croydon with 544. Barking and Dagenham, Lewisham, Ealing, Manchester and Greenwich also featured in the top 10.
Those concentrations matter because they point to where landlords are most exposed to long court pipelines and tougher management conditions. In higher-pressure boroughs, a possession claim is not just a legal event. It can mean months of lost rent, extra compliance checks and a longer wait to recover the property.
Why strong rental demand is not protecting landlords
Sim Sekhon, group chief executive of LegalforLandlords, said the figures showed landlords do not “hold all the cards” simply because demand is high. He said possession claims still arise where tenancies break down, especially in cases involving arrears, tenancy breaches or antisocial behaviour.
That is the sharper landlord angle in this update. A tight market can help owners re-let quickly after a property is recovered, but it does not stop the loss building up while a claim moves through the system. Where arrears are already mounting, the timeline can do as much damage as the original dispute.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s recent report on July’s jump in possession instructions before the final Section 21 court cut-off. Taken together, the figures suggest landlords were still pushing claims into the system in high numbers even before the current evidence-heavy regime beds in fully.
There is also a practical warning here for self-managing landlords. The court route is less forgiving when notice records, rent schedules, deposit paperwork or service evidence are weak. The official Ministry of Justice possession statistics for January to March 2026 show the scale of the pipeline, but they do not capture the stress and cost of a poorly prepared claim.
Landlords with older cases may also want to read this alongside Landlord Knowledge’s coverage of the Supreme Court gas safety appeal, which highlights how technical paperwork disputes can still derail possession work long after a tenancy started.
What this means for landlords
- If you operate in London or other high-claim areas: expect possession risk to stay higher than national headlines about tenant demand might suggest.
- If arrears are building: move early on evidence, records and advice rather than waiting for the debt to deepen.
- Watch for: whether post-Section 21 cases create even longer delays as more landlords lean on court-backed grounds.
- Bottom line: strong demand may help with reletting, but it does not shield landlords from the cost of a broken tenancy.
Editor’s view
Too much landlord commentary still treats high demand as if it cancels out operational risk. It does not. A full diary of tenant enquiries means very little when a possession claim is stuck in the system and the rent has already stopped coming in.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 14 August 2026
Sources: Ministry of Justice, LegalforLandlords
Related reading: Landlord Action: possession instructions jump 28% before 31 July cut-off
