The table shows the number of mortgage possession orders made in each London county court since 2004.
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 example, possession orders made at Croydon county court may relate to properties in other London boroughs besides Croydon.
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 made1 2004 2005 2006 Barnet 287 552 580 Bow 897 1,423 1,702 Brentford 372 602 779 Bromley 585 1,037 1,121 Central London 265 506 409 Clerkenwell and Shoreditch 406 661 804 Croydon 895 1,474 1,856 Edmonton 644 1,121 1,249 Ilford 392 563 650 Kingston-upon-Thames 209 356 420 Lambeth 553 920 1,089 Mayors and City 3 1 9 Romford 486 900 981 Uxbridge 347 515 595 Wandsworth 340 555 582 West London 141 287 293 Willesden 497 893 1,080 Woolwich 343 624 903 London total 7,662 12,990 15,102 1 Includes suspended orders. 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.