Landlord Action’s Paul Shamplina has warned that the expected impact from the abolition of Section 21 has yet to show up in Ministry of Justice possession figures.

The latest data for the first quarter of the year reveals that accelerated possession claims increased from 6,489 in Q4 2025 to 6,599. Overall, landlord possession claims also rose from 21,457 to 22,733 quarter-on-quarter.

Meanwhile, the median average time from claim to landlord repossession is currently 26.4 weeks, up by 0.3 weeks from the same period in 2025.

Shamplina says while the MoJ figures don’t currently show a dramatic spike in landlord possession claims overall, the data suggests that pressure within the private rented sector remained elevated ahead of the Renters’ Rights changes. However, he adds: “We believe it is still too early for the figures to fully reflect the level of activity that took place before the abolition of Section 21.”

Lag

In practice, there is often a considerable lag between landlords serving notice, seeking legal advice and cases formally progressing to court claim stage, meaning much of the activity seen across the sector in the lead-up to the legislative changes may not yet be captured within these figures, explains Shamplina.

Landlord Action saw one of the busiest periods in its history ahead of the reforms, with a significant increase in landlord enquiries and instructions as many sought to act before the rules changed, he adds.

Cases

“A large proportion of those cases would still have been progressing through the early stages of the possession process during Q1,” says Shamplina. “For that reason, we expect the Q2 and Q3 figures to provide a much clearer indication of the true level of possession activity following the legislative changes and the extent of the pressure moving through the court system.”

The first full quarter of operation covering July to September will be published in December, according to the MoJ, which adds: “We will investigate the disaggregation of the data within this report to enable interpretation of any impacts on activity within the rented sector, and will continue to monitor changes as the act is implemented.”

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