The following table shows the number of mortgage possession orders made at each of the Suffolk county courts (Bury St. Edmonds, Ipswich and Lowestoft) since 1997.
The civil procedure rules provide that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. However, these county courts cover areas that are not necessarily consistent with other administrative or constituency boundaries, and therefore for instance repossessions at Bury St. Edmunds county court may relate to properties in other constituencies besides Bury St. Edmunds.
These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts, since not all orders result in the properties actually being repossessed.
Possession Orders Made2 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Bury St. Edmunds 56 68 72 37 35 18 48 47 99 117 Ipswich 113 117 136 66 51 60 46 79 123 192 Lowestoft 50 58 37 75 58 54 64 82 125 149 Suffolk 219 243 245 178 144 132 158 208 347 458 1 Local authority and private 2 The court, following a judicial hearing, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction.