Crisis, the homelessness charity, is demanding financial and legislative help for tenants.

Matt Downie, Crisis chief executive, says: “This is a time of huge uncertainty for many renters who are worried about being forced out of their home, falling into arrears or being hit with a rent hike.  

“The rising cost of living means that for more and more people, housing costs are outstripping their incomes. The added threat of being made homeless is causing unimaginable stress for thousands.  

“With the number of claims by landlords looking to repossess their homes more than doubling, it’s clear that we need to act quicky. We must urgently put a safety net in place to help people who might find their tenancies ended at a moment’s notice. 

“What’s more, with the Government still yet to honour its manifesto commitment to ban no-fault evictions, people are being forced to live each day with the stress of knowing that their landlord could at any time take the house back. 

“But it doesn’t have to be like this. Investing in housing benefit so that it starts to cover the true cost of rent would immediately help prevent homelessness by protecting people from falling into arrears. 

“And in the longer-term, the government also needs to urgently bring forward the Renters Reform Bill to protect tenants from being hit with a no-fault eviction notice.” 

New figures from the Ministry of Justice show that there were 21,012 landlord repossession claims between July and September, a 106 per cent increase on the same quarter last year.

This is also a 16 per cent increase since April-to-June 2022. 

The statistics also show that there were 5,403 actual landlord repossessions, 10 per cent more than at the same time last year, and nine per cent more than in the previous quarter. 

There were also some 744 mortgage repossessions, a 90 per cent increase on the same time last year, and a similar level to the previous quarter.