The bulletin presents the latest statistics on the numbers of mortgage and landlord possession actions in the county courts of England and Wales. These statistics are a leading indicator of the number of properties to be repossessed and the only source of sub-national possession information. In addition to monitoring court workloads, they are used to assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy both nationally and locally.

A supporting document is included alongside the bulletin with background information on the mortgage court system, policy background, methodology used, a user guide to the data CSVs, and other useful sources of mortgage statistics.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme monitoring statistics ‘housing live table’ gives information on the number of households approaching local authorities with mortgage difficulties and applications and acceptances for the scheme.

The scheme has 2 elements:

• the ‘Government Mortgage to Rent’ option which involves a RSL purchasing the homeowner’s property, enabling the household to remain in the property as a tenant on an assured short hold tenancy, paying an intermediate rent
• the ‘Shared Equity’ option which involves a RSL providing a loan to the homeowner to enable the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payments to be reduced.

The figures, presented by Government Office Region, are derived from Mortgage Rescue Scheme returns submitted to Communities and Local Government by local authorities, the fast-track case management system, Shelter monitoring returns and Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) management information.

Local authority figures do not contain estimates for missing returns. Information on the local authority response rate is provided alongside the reported figures for each period.

The fast-track team which was launched in September 2009 to centrally take referrals directly from lenders and process them through to completion, ceased taking new referrals at the end of June 2010 and closed on 31 August 2010, with all ongoing cases passed to Shelter for action. Up to and including Q2 2010 all figures on fast-track cases and completions come from the fast-track case management system.

From Q3 2010 onwards Shelter monitoring returns have been used to provide figures on live former fast-track cases where they are carrying out the initial assessment and HCA management information has been used to provide figures on live cases referred to RSLs or with an offer from an RSL as at the end of the quarter and the number of households that have accepted an offer through the scheme during the quarter. There will therefore be a discontinuity in the fast-track figures from Q3 2010 onwards.

Figures for different periods are shown on separate tabs in the workbook. The figures undergo validation and cross checking overseen by DCLG statisticians and are reconciled with HCA management information on the number of households that have accepted an offer through the scheme.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme monitoring statistics are released quarterly on the same day as statistical publications on repossessions produced by the Ministry of Justice and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

These figures have been pre-released in accordance with the Pre-release Access Order and the pre release access list can be found in the Downloads below.

From April the local authority and Shelter Mortgage Rescue Scheme monitoring returns submitted to DCLG are being discontinued and therefore the DCLG Jan to March quarter 2011 statistics will be the last set to be published. From April, monitoring information for the new Mortgage Rescue Scheme will be collected by the HCA from MRS providers.

Responsible Statistician: Laurie Thompson

**Public enquiries: ** mortgagerescue@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Press Enquiries: Office hours: 0303 444 1136 Out of hours: 0303 444 1201 Press.office@communities.gsi.gov.uk

These statistics are a leading indicator of the number of properties to be repossessed and the only source of sub-national possession information. In addition to monitoring court workloads, they are used to assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy both nationally and locally.

A supporting document is included alongside the bulletin with background information on the mortgage court system, policy background, methodology used, a user guide to the data CSVs, and other useful sources of mortgage statistics.

The quarterly releases are released by the Ministry of Justice and produced in accordance with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. The bulletin presents the latest statistics on the numbers of mortgage and landlord possession actions in the county courts of England and Wales. These statistics are a leading indicator of the number of properties to be repossessed and the only source of sub-national possession information. In addition to monitoring court workloads, they are used to assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy both nationally and locally.

Executive summary

Mortgage

The number of mortgage possession claims in County Courts increased from 2003 to a peak in 2008, but has fallen 70% since then to 12,882 in the second quarter of 2013. The fall in mortgage claims has been spread evenly across all regions of the country.

The fall in the number of mortgage possession claims since 2008 coincides with lower interest rates, a proactive approach from lenders in managing consumers in financial difficulties and other interventions from the government, such as the Mortgage Rescue Scheme.

At the same time the number of claims rose, the estimated proportion of claims which have progressed to an order, warrant or repossession by county court bailiffs also increased from 2003 to around 2009 or 2010, but has fallen slightly since.

Landlord

The number of landlord possession claims in County Courts fell from 2003 to 2008, but has increased since then by 8% to 39,293 in the second quarter of 2013. The increase has been higher in London than in other regions of the country.

The estimated proportion of claims which have progressed to an order, warrant or repossession by county court bailiffs have been increasing slightly since 2009.

Changes

We have made some changes to this bulletin, which are outlined below. These changes were announced in the previous bulletin and feedback was sought. Feedback did not show opposition to these proposals.

Seasonally adjusted figures:

We have discontinued production of these tables, as feedback suggested limited customer use, as customers prefer the clarity of using actual figures rather than adjusted figures.

Tables 5 and 6:

We have discontinued production of Tables 5 and 6 which provided breakdowns at the national level of landlord possession claims and claims lead to orders by type of landlord and procedure. Instead information at the local level is provided in the supplementary CSV. This provides users with the local picture regarding this data and allows users to aggregate it in ways that suit their own needs. Those users who would prefer to use the tables can request them from the Ministry of Justice using the contact provided at the end of this report.

Measuring the volume of orders, warrants and repossessions:

Previously, the figures presented in this bulletin were claims that lead to orders, claims that lead to warrants, and claims that lead to repossessions. This counted the number of orders, warrants or repossessions that are unique to a claim, so that if one claim had two or more orders only the first was counted. In this bulletin, they have been replaced with the total number of orders, warrants and repossessions. We believe this will be simpler to understand and will be a more accurate reflection of the court workload. Annex C provides more details on these changes.

Mortgage and landlord possession statistical tables (CSV):

This CSV contained the same information as the main tables with some additional breakdowns between 1999 and 2007 by quarter. We discontinued production of this output. Feedback from customers suggests there is rather limited use of this output, as customers find the main tables more straightforward to understand and can find quarterly information from the other supplementary CSV, which also provide local breakdowns on a quarterly basis.

As a result of these proposed changes the possessions publication consists of a

• bulletin describing headline results,
• supported by tables providing headline results,
• supported by CSV providing court-level and local-authority breakdowns on a wider range of variables than in the main tables,
• supported by a guide which explain how to get the most out of the CSV.

Revision and pre-release policy

Revisions: The statistics for the second quarter of 2013 are provisional, and are therefore liable to revision to take account of any late amendments to the administrative databases from which these statistics are sourced. The standard process for revising the published statistics to account for these late amendments is as follows. An initial

This is the final publication of Mortgage Rescue Scheme monitoring statistics as reported by local authorities.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme monitoring statistics ‘housing live table’ gives information on the number of households that approached local authorities with mortgage difficulties and applications and acceptances for the scheme.

The scheme had two elements:

1. the ‘Government Mortgage to Rent’ option which involved a registered social landlord purchasing the homeowner’s property, enabling the household to remain in the property as a tenant on an assured short hold tenancy, paying an intermediate rent
2. the ‘Shared Equity’ option which involved a registered social landlord providing a loan to the homeowner to enable the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payments to be reduced.

The figures, presented by Government Office Region, are derived from Mortgage Rescue Scheme returns submitted to Communities and Local Government by local authorities, the fast-track case management system, Shelter monitoring returns and Homes and Communities Agency management information.

Local authority figures do not contain estimates for missing returns. Information on the local authority response rate is provided alongside the reported figures for each period.

The fast-track team which was launched in September 2009 to centrally take referrals directly from lenders and process them through to completion, ceased taking new referrals at the end of June 2010 and closed on 31 August 2010, with all ongoing cases passed to Shelter for action. Up to and including Q2 2010 all figures on fast-track cases and completions come from the fast-track case management system. From Q3 2010 onwards Shelter monitoring returns have been used to provide figures on live former fast-track cases where they are carrying out the initial assessment and Homes and Communities Agency management information has been used to provide figures on live cases referred to registered social landlords or with an offer from a registered social landlord as at the end of the quarter and the number of households that have accepted an offer through the scheme during the quarter. There will therefore be a discontinuity in the fast-track figures from Q3 2010 onwards.

Figures for different periods are shown on separate tabs in the workbook. The figures undergo validation and cross checking overseen by DCLG statisticians and are reconciled with Homes and Communities Agency management information on the number of households that have accepted an offer through the scheme.

These figures have been pre-released in accordance with the Pre-release Access Order and the pre release access list can be found in the Downloads below.

Changes to the scheme from April mean that DCLG will no longer need to collect detailed data from Local authorities on live Mortgage Rescue Scheme cases and completions to manage the pipeline.

The department will continue to collect a small amount of quarterly data on households approaching authorities with mortgage difficulties to ensure that the positive impact of Mortgage Rescue Scheme in encouraging households to come forward for money advice can be monitored and evidenced. The Homes and Communities Agency will continue to collect monitoring information from Mortgage Rescue Scheme providers on live cases and completions of cases currently in the pipeline and under the new scheme. Details of these changes have been published in the housing and homelessness annex of the draft statistics plan which is out for consultation until the 3rd June 2011, see related publications below.

Responsible Statistician: Laurie Thompson

**Public enquiries: ** mortgagerescue@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Press Enquiries: Office hours: 0303 444 1136 Out of hours: 0303 444 1201 Press.office@communities.gsi.gov.uk