More than 20 households have homes repossessed in Hartlepool

The 24 court actions followed the end of the tenant eviction ban and the lifting of most coronavirus restrictions and housing charity Crisis said the figures showed that measures introduced to prevent homelessness during the pandemic were inadequate.

The Ministry of Justice figures show the claims to repossess homes in the area were lodged by mortgage lenders and landlords between July and September.

Of the claims lodged in the three months, 14 were made by private and social landlords against renters.

The figures also show three property repossessions took place in Hartlepool between July and September – all renter evictions.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said more must be done to prevent people from becoming homeless, including lifting the freeze on the rates of housing benefit paid to low-income families to prevent tenants from falling behind on payments.

He said: “More and more people who lost their jobs and had their lives turned upside down are now being forced into homelessness."

Nationally, 13,000 repossession claims were submitted to county courts between July and September – a significant increase from 4,065 in the same period last year.

A Government spokesman said: "These statistics show there has been a considerable decrease in repossessions compared to pre-pandemic levels

“The action we’ve taken since the start of the pandemic protected over eight million households with the pause in court possession proceedings."