According to HM Courts & Tribunals Service, the pre Covid-19 baseline for civil receipts was 38,521, including High Court claims and all possession case types.
This decreased to 12,250 during the week ending 5th April, and fell again to 6,656 the following week.
The lowest number of receipts was 4,626, during the week ending 10th May.
Jonathan Newman, senior partner at Brightstone Law, said it was no wonder that bridging lenders were concerned about the capacity of the courts to cope.
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“This logjam, combined with the reduced capacity of the courts as they implement procedures to enable social distancing, means that there are going to be huge delays when they do resume, and the situation is only going to get worse the longer it continues.
“It’s not that bridging lenders are hungry to commence enforcement action, but the combination of payment deferrals and the government moratorium has created a disproportionate funding problem for short-term lenders and it’s important for them to exercise their rights to begin a process of recovery.”
The research by the ASTL also found that 41% of bridging lenders were concerned that the continued extension of the enforcement moratorium was going to reduce their capacity to carry out new lending in the future.
Vic Jannels, CEO at the ASTL (pictured above), added: “This is one of the reasons that we have been working so hard at the ASTL to engage with the treasury and have a rational and forward-thinking discussion about the impact of the enforcement moratorium in its current format, and I am pleased to say that we are making progress.
“We think it is important that we work together on an effective and diverse financial response to the current situation so that we are able to follow a balanced approach that best supports the UK’s economic recovery.”
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