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Repossession Orders: Hampshire

Volume 481: debated on Monday 27 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many house repossession orders were laid before the courts in Hampshire in each of the last 12 months, broken down by county court. (229563)

The tables show the numbers of mortgage and landlord possession claims issued and orders made in each county court in Hampshire over the 12 months to June 2008.

Court level statistics on mortgage and landlord repossession actions from 1987 to 2007 are available on the Ministry of Justice website at:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/mortgatelandlordpossession.htm

These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts, since not all the orders will have resulted in the issue and execution of warrants of possession.

The civil procedure rules state that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. As county courts’ jurisdictions are not coterminous with the borough boundaries, any single court’s repossession actions are likely to relate to homes in a number of different boroughs.

Table 1: mortgage possession claims issued in the county courts of Hampshire in the year to June 2008, broken down by count and month

Aldershot and Farnham

Basingstoke

Portsmouth

Southampton

Winchester

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

2007

July

75

38

36

18

151

56

86

61

14

5

August

50

43

32

12

103

86

82

55

5

7

September

48

41

21

18

101

125

59

59

6

3

October

50

44

36

24

126

51

79

50

9

8

November

45

26

42

12

125

56

96

64

8

2

December

35

16

26

22

111

61

69

49

6

5

2008

January

51

37

30

30

155

77

90

73

14

5

February

55

26

45

21

164

89

81

65

6

5

March

45

34

31

17

118

104

83

53

10

2

April

49

44

45

31

144

98

72

71

11

6

May

62

16

28

22

135

92

88

51

4

6

June

37

52

26

32

130

125

85

66

9

6

1 Includes outright and suspended orders, the later being where the court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually requires the defendant to pay the current mortgage instalments plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced.

Notes:

1. Mortgage possession data include all types of lenders whether local authority or 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.

3. Although orders made will be less than claims issued overall, in a given month it is possible for the former figure to exceed the latter as a result of time lags in the process (typically around eight weeks from claim issue to order).

Source:

Ministry of Justice

Table 2: landlord possession claims issued in the county courts of Hampshire in the year to June 2008, broken down by count and month

Aldershot and Farnham

Basingstoke

Portsmouth

Southampton

Winchester

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

Claims issued

Orders made1

2007

July

32

60

56

24

128

69

98

58

15

6

August

56

30

46

30

174

66

98

64

19

12

October

41

34

46

25

126

87

84

65

3

4

September

41

30

42

50

122

54

134

79

16

8

November

45

26

32

29

136

78

87

83

8

10

December

28

17

31

21

103

72

92

52

10

7

2008

January

89

52

39

34

149

75

97

85

6

7

February

49

47

47

32

119

72

87

106

15

7

March

61

48

17

18

119

84

89

77

16

11

April

46

54

36

29

87

78

118

96

8

13

May

39

36

47

20

90

57

82

80

5

3

June

38

47

47

37

93

85

103

78

13

7

1 Includes outright and suspended orders, the later being where the court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually requires the defendant to pay the current mortgage instalments plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced.

Notes:

1. Landlord possession data include all types of landlord whether local authority, housing associations or 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.

3. Although orders made will be less than claims issued overall, in a given month it is possible for the former figure to exceed the latter as a result of time lags in the process (typically around eight weeks from claim issue to order).

Source:

Ministry of Justice