On Thursday 9th May, official data from the Ministry of Justice was published that showed private landlords wishing to regain possession of their properties for lawful reasons, now have to wait even longer for the process to be completed.

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The report states that the average waiting time for landlords when making a repossession claim to the courts to regain their property is now 17.3 weeks.

The government's figures show that the first three months of this year it has taken one week longer for the repossession process to be completed than it did in the last quarter of 2018.

Ministers are intent on scrapping Section 21 'no fault' repossessions and a trade body is demanding the court procedures must become 'fixed' before this comes into action. It argues that landlords must be reassured of a shorter term to regain properties if tenants fall behind with their rent payments.

The body is urging the government to quickly set up a “properly funded, dedicated housing court” to make sure that 'rulings' for both tenants and landlords are completed swiftly.

It states it is fully committed to holding consultations with the landlord community to find out how best repossessions can be speeded up.

A spokesperson for the trade body, said: “The courts are simply unable to cope when landlords seek to repossess property for legitimate reasons.