THE PROPERTY FILTER TAKE
Eviction cases in England's housing courts can now take up to a year to reach a hearing, against two to three months before. The wait for bailiffs in one part of London is seven months (The Guardian, 7 September 2026).
Both sides are stuck. Your tenant is often told to stay put before the council will help, and you carry the mortgage on a property you can neither re-let nor sell.
Consider pricing a possession delay of several months into your figures before you serve notice, and speak to a housing solicitor about the grounds available to you.
Eviction cases in England's housing courts can now take up to a year to reach a hearing, against two to three months previously. That comes from litigation partner Mustafa Sidki of law firm Thackray Williams, quoted by The Guardian (7 September 2026). In one part of London the wait for bailiffs, the court officers who physically carry out an eviction, is seven months. That delay lands on both sides of the tenancy at once.
Why are England's housing courts so backed up?
At Stratford housing court in east London, every seat in the waiting room is full. Up to 29 cases are dealt with in a single day, The Guardian reported on 7 September 2026. Lawyers described the system as being at breaking point.
Official data released shortly before that report showed a 16% rise in section 21 evictions between April and June 2026. The comparison is with the same period in 2025 (The Guardian, 7 September 2026). Section 21 is the no-fault route under the Housing Act 1988 that let a landlord in England take back a property without giving a reason. It was abolished on 1 May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act, when the new laws came into force (GOV.UK, 30 April 2026). Landlords rebuilding their notice and record-keeping routine may find our business and systems hub a useful starting point.
Sidki, who acts for both landlords and tenants, said the courts are "overloaded", with "not enough court time or judicial time to deal with it". These are England's courts and England's rules. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate rental and possession regimes, so none of this reads across to a portfolio held elsewhere. Our free property resources are a starting point if you are reworking your process.
What the backlog costs landlords and tenants
In one case at Stratford, a tenant who received a section 21 notice earlier in the year asked the judge for the maximum 42 days to leave. He was granted 28. He is off work with chronic ill health, has three children aged eight, five and one, and had found no emergency housing through his council (The Guardian, 7 September 2026).
Lawyers told The Guardian that many local authorities tell tenants they must resist eviction to access emergency housing support. Neli Borisova is a senior associate at law firm JMW. She said tenants "regularly get advised to basically not leave until they're evicted by the bailiffs, which puts them in a difficult place". That advice is why an amicable handover so often turns into a hearing.
In practice, that is an extended void (a stretch with no rent coming in) while the mortgage keeps running. Landlords at Stratford were asking for cases to be moved to the high court to speed things up. You may wish to check whether the rent still covers the mortgage under a stressed rate on our free rental stress test calculator before you start a possession claim.
Why are landlords selling, and what does that do to supply?
Savills estimated that 254,000 buy-to-let homes (properties owned to rent out) were listed for sale in the year to March 2026. That is a 28% increase on 2024 (The Guardian, 7 September 2026). The same report, citing property industry analysts, put the number of landlords who left the market in 2025 at about 93,000, with a further 110,000 forecast to leave during 2026.
Landlords are now serving section 8 notices, which state a legal ground for possession such as a sale. Sidki put it this way: "we're getting a lot of section 8 notices where the tenant isn't at fault, but the landlord has a right to sell". Some of those tenants have been in the property for a decade.
In London, former rental properties accounted for 30% of all new sales, against 13% across the rest of the country (The Guardian, 7 September 2026). Nye Jones of Generation Rent said the scale of last-minute evictions "shows how badly we needed greater protections and the end of section 21". For tenants who stay, that outflow of stock tightens an already tight market, which is the demand picture our property investment strategies hub works through.
Key takeaways
A possession hearing in England that used to take two to three months can now take up to a year (The Guardian, 7 September 2026).
In one part of London the wait for bailiffs alone is seven months (The Guardian, 7 September 2026).
Section 21 evictions rose 16% between April and June 2026 against the same period in 2025, as landlords moved before the Renters' Rights Act banned the route.
Savills estimated 254,000 buy-to-let homes were listed for sale in the year to March 2026, 28% more than in 2024.
In London, former rental homes made up 30% of all new sales, against 13% across the rest of the country.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an eviction case take in England now?
Has section 21 been abolished?
Why do tenants stay until the bailiffs arrive?
Can a landlord still gain possession to sell?
Do these delays apply outside England?
