The April – June 0224 mortgage arrears figures showed that landlords are struggling to afford to keep their buy to let properties.

The number in arrears was up 1% compared with the previous quarter, to 13,570.

When compared to the same quarter in 2023 landlord possession claims increased from 22,526 to 24,495 (9%), and repossessions were up from 5,950 to 6,927 (16%), Ministry of Justice figures showed.

Private landlord repossessions remained concentrated in London, and this was the same for individual mortgage holders.

Heather Powell, head of property at Blick Rothenberg, said: ‘The mortgage arrears stats show that landlords are struggling to afford to keep their buy to let properties.

‘The arrears stats for buy to let mortgages are slowly increasing. 13,570 buy to let mortgages have arrears of more than 2.5% of the outstanding balance, an increase of 1% over the first quarter in 2024.