It has been a busy day across the courts - our reporters have seen first-hand the range of factors that can bring people in front of judges, faced with losing their homes.

• An elderly Bangladeshi couple were evicted having racked up arrears of £35,000
• In Norwich, an unwell tenant's "last chance" to pay off her £5,377 arrears is turned down
• Solicitors were being "overrun" in some areas, as the number of people seeking help continues to grow

• A man in Northampton gets some relief at the last moment as his cousin steps in to pay £2,700 of arrears

• A solicitor explains a landlord's side of the story - telling how they often have bills to pay or financial issues themselves

We're now closing our live coverage but you can read more about what happened at the courts today here, and find out more about the main investigation here.

Thank you for joining us.

Image source, Matt Precey/BBC

Julia Adams, a solicitor for the housing charity Shelter, is working as a duty legal adviser at Norwich County Court today.

She has seen a rise in mortgage possessions coming before the courts, as we have reported.

"In terms of increases in mortgage cases, we're certainly seeing some of those compared to two years ago," she says.

She believes rises in interest rates are largely to blame. Her advice to anybody in arrears and facing court proceedings is to "get advice early".

"Legal aid is available to you," she says. "Your possession paperwork will have on it where to go for advice."

Charlotte Rose
Reporting from Stratford Magistrates' Court

I have been speaking to the 71-year-old usher here in Stratford who has worked in the service for 37 years.

When I show surprise at this, she says a colleague of hers recently retired aged 75.

She says a key part of the role is "being able to talk to people", adding that although "sometimes we get trouble" it is "quite unusual".

She used to work at the county court in Bow, in east London, before it was amalgamated into this court as part of the government's closure programme.

Ushers manage the court lists - at Stratford the housing court is close to the other magistrates' courts in the building so the ushers walk around speaking to people to make sure they know where they are going, and importantly, they direct them to the Duty Advisors Scheme if they need legal advice.

Unlike in the criminal courts where ushers wear long black robes, at the county courts they wear their own clothing.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Reporting from Stratford Magistrates' Court

In Stratford Housing Centre in east London, we hear the case of a Romanian single mother.

She works as a cleaner and does not speak English.

In court, she is evicted from her flat where she lives with three children.

Her sister has come to translate.

The woman, through her sister, declines to reveal her name to the court, which is her right.

Her sister tells me she "works like a dog" and pays the rent on time.

Her eviction is immediate, however, because this was classed as trespass. She says the flat was rented to her by someone who was not the actual owner.

She says she found her flat on social media and is now on the stressful path to find another place to live.

BBC reporter Stephen Menon has spent the day in court in Croydon where he says one judge alone has had to decide on 30 rental repossession cases.

He sums up what he has seen today.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Reporting from Stratford Magistrates' Court

Still at Stratford Housing Centre, a 27-year-old mother walks out of her hearing looking shell-shocked.

She has just heard she is going to lose her home.

The woman - a single parent of two children, aged four and eight - says she did not expect to be evicted.

The nursery assistant fell behind with rent payments and owes more than £1,000.

When I ask why she was unable to pay, she replies: "I have a lot of things going on."

Stephen Menon
Reporting from Croydon County and Family Court

I've caught up again with Hajra Jafri, the on-duty adviser who we spoke to for our investigation.

She happened to be working today here in Croydon and she tells me it has been "very, very busy", with all of the cases involving rent possession.

"It’s [often] dependent on the judge, he’s stood down some cases, so he can facilitate discussion, but some judges don't do this," she explains.

She believes there are multiple reasons why there are so many repossession cases at the moment.

"The most pressing, is the cost of living crisis. It’s impacted everyone, and people are bearing the brunt of it - especially those who had mortgages, when they saw their interest rates rise so high," she says.

She adds that it's a similar situations for renters.

"People are losing jobs and benefit sanctions have stopped people from covering their rent. There are some private landlords who are trying to get Section 21 evictions, external through before the renters reform bill, because they can't afford the mortgage on their own home and must sell their assets.

"It's a domino effect," she says.

Jon Ironmonger
Reporting from Northampton County Court

Michael Ireland narrowly avoided losing his home today in Northampton.

Over six months he had fallen into £2,700 of arrears on his interest-only mortgage and the lender, HSBC, was seeking a possession order.

But at the last minute, Michael says his cousin generously agreed to settle the debt for him, and the judge adjourned his case providing the money clears in the next few days.

Outside court, Michael tells me he had made some bad decisions.

"I was spending money in places I shouldn’t have done, and I fell into a trap where with other debts to creditors, I was debilitated," he says.

"I didn’t even know when the letter came I was so far in arrears, because like a lot of people, you just choose to ignore it.

"It’s the things that people do for you that you don’t forget. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my cousin for helping me out in this situation."

Phil Shepka
Reporting from Peterborough Crown and County Court

If you'd asked for the duty housing adviser at Peterborough today you will have met somebody with what she describes as "probably... unique empathy".

Niina Ankers has been subject to two Section 21 notices, external herself.

She says she doesn't judge anyone, having "seen million-pound homeowners and people who have just got out of prison" go through the court process.

Covid and its after-effects play a part in 70% of the cases she sees, she says, particularly the mortgage ones where there are self-employed defendants, she says.

In many of the cases today, the defendants haven't turned up.

"If people just don't show up, possession orders are likely to happen because the judge won't be able to hear the other side," she explains.

Remember, if you have been affected by this story or would like support then you can find organisations which offer help and information at the BBC Action Line.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Reporting from Stratford Magistrates' Court

The mood has been bleak in Stratford Housing Court in east London, with several renters being told they will be evicted from their homes.

Everyone I've met in court today has been in tears.

One case involved an elderly Bangladeshi couple who have racked up arrears of £35,000.

They don’t speak English and their children are here to translate.

Their lawyer says they could not pay the rent because of "an issue with Universal Credit", but the judge says that is not a good enough reason.

“However sympathetic I am - and it is a tale of woe - but I am stuck with the law,” the judge says.

The family are subsequently evicted.

Matt Precey
Reporting from Norwich County Court

Back to our last case of the day at Norwich County Court.

A homeowner, whose ex-partner moved out, was represented in court by a duty legal adviser.

Her former partner, who is also named in the proceedings, told the court he had been removed from the property against his will.

"I don't want to see anybody homeless," he says. "I want to see the book closed and this resolved."

Outside the court, the woman tearfully says she has faced many difficulties.

In a quiet voice, she tells me: "There was a change in my life circumstances. A breakdown in a relationship.

"I'll follow the ruling and see what options are available."

The woman says she is not optimistic that the situation with her ex-partner can be resolved to find a way forward.

"It's been a struggle," she says.

Jon Ironmonger
Reporting from Northampton County Court

All five mortgage repossession cases were adjourned in Northampton this afternoon, subject to the defendants making good on their promises to clear their arrears.

So, the good news is no-one is losing their homes here today.

District Judge Allan Pickup dismissed a request by a lawyer for HSBC not to discuss financial details in front of a journalist, and rightly said housing possession cases are now heard in public.

Chatting to me later, Judge Pickup says mortgage possessions were running at about the same rate since the financial crash of 2008.

However, he says the courts are "seeing a big upturn in rent possessions due to general pressures of the cost of living, and people prioritising food over rent".

He adds many landlords are serving more Section 21 orders, or no-fault evictions, "trying to beat the implementation of the Renters' Rights Act", which will abolish them.

It's been a busy day across the courts we are covering today, but there are many steps to go through before homes get repossessed.

• Homeowners go into arrears once they miss a mortgage payment, but most lenders will not start proceedings until three payments are skipped and will offer a repayment plan first
• When a plan cannot be agreed, a lender may start court action whereby owners will receive letters and a defence form to set out their financial situation and how they plan to repay

• If a possession hearing is set, the owners must attend or they could lose their home by default as judges can order outright evictions or suspended orders, which allow owners to stay according to specific terms
• An outright eviction sets a date for owners to leave their properties and bailiffs can be called in if the date passes or the suspension order terms are breached
• When a home is repossessed, the lender will sell it and the owner will get any money left over after the debt is paid off, but if they still owe money then they will need to speak to a lender or debt adviser about ways to repay

There is more information on this process here.

Matt Precey
Reporting from Norwich County Court

A representative for a mortgage lender who was seeking possession of a property raised an objection to my presence during the case and sought to exclude certain details being discussed in court.

However the judge at Norwich County Court rejected his argument.

This was the final case before him today and involved the lender seeking to repossess a property from a woman and her former partner.

The mortgage arrears started when he moved out of the property, the court heard, and £8,183 is owed to the lender.

The property was bought from Norwich City Council in 2019, and the woman had lived there since 2005.

She is on Universal Credit and the health component of the Personal Independence Payment.

Judge Earl agreed to adjourn the proceedings, but told her "this really is a last chance" for her to file a defence against losing the property.

Stephen Menon
Reporting from Croydon County and Family Court

One man has just emerged from the court, full of relief.

"I was incarcerated for nine years a while ago, and since I was released, Universal Credit was covering [my rent]," he says.

Prior to this he worked as a manager in telecommunications, but he claims his driving licence was defrauded without his knowledge while he was using a company car and, he says, he lost his job.

"Because of the fraud my licence had racked up so many warnings I was banned, but because I wasn’t receiving the letters, I didn’t realise that I was ‘banned’," he tells me.

"I lost my job, and I was on crutches for a year, and I ended up in arrears."

He tells me he called up his council for help, and he kept being bounced around. Eventually because of his mental health and anxiety he gave up and waited for them to contact him.

“Even when I tried to log on to the Universal Credit website, because I was on a new mobile number, I couldn’t do a two factor authentication, and because I’m on shifts I couldn’t get into the Universal Credit office to show myself, and I couldn’t take time off work," he claims. "I have seven kids to provide for and I work hard.”

Today was good news for him - the judge suspended the order, so he has 28 days to get up to date with payments.

“The duty solicitor was amazing," he says. "My mental health and anxiety going into this were awful, but when she told me what had happened in the court, it was such a relief.”

We've heard a lot from the tenants involved in rent repossession cases. But what about the landlords.

Well, we've found most representatives from the local authorities and housing associations say they don't have permission to speak to us while the majority of private landlords don't come to court themselves. Instead, they hire a solicitor.

One of those solicitors tells me their stories are often not heard in court.

She acknowledges while a tenant may have lived in a property for a long time, when a landlord needs to sell it is usually because they have bills to pay or financial issues themselves.

And in cases where large arrears have built up because tenants have failed to pay, private landlords cannot subsidise people living in their properties for free.

Jonathan Fagg
BBC England Data Unit

Let’s dig into the freedom of information requests.

The BBC got usable figures from 244 local authorities across England on how many people are seeking help from their council because they’re at risk of becoming homeless.

The responses show that, across those councils, the number of people asking for help is going up – from 1,563 in 2022-23 to 3,546 in 2024-25. About three-quarters of councils who responded reported a rise.

Bury, in the North West, had 177 people seeking help in 2024-25, the most of any council that responded.

Somerset, in the South West, saw the largest change over the period: 150 people sought help in 2024-25, up from just one in 2022-23.

If we factor in population, we can work out which local authority has the highest rate of people asking for help. In 2024-25 that’s Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, where 95 out of 100,000 people were seeking help to prevent becoming homeless.

Charlotte Rose
East and London Investigations

We talked to Henry Sabati McRae, who lives in Croydon, south London, who has so far managed to stave off repossession.

A software developer by training, Henry's financial woes came in the wake of the death of his brother in 2020 and his mother in October 2023.

Since October 2024, the 51-year-old has been out of work and, despite applying for hundreds of jobs, he has not managed to get a new contract.

"It doesn't matter how much you have in savings," he says.

"Within a few months it is wiped out. I managed to stretch it as far as I could, because I'd been quite conservative with how I was doing."

Even so, the mortgage arrears on his two-bedroom flat eventually grew to about £13,000 and his bank said if that figure was not reduced to below £8,000 it would seek to repossess his home.

To scrape by, he has turned to selling off his possessions on an internet auction site and accepting a loan from a friend.

Jonathan Fagg
BBC England Data Unit

The chart above shows the number of mortgage repossessions by county court bailiffs.

As you can see, the number has been rising after a dip during the pandemic. That said, it is still well below what we saw during the financial crisis.

In the first nine months of 2025, there have been 3,497 mortgage repossessions by county court bailiffs across England and Wales. That’s according to provisional figures from the Ministry of Justice.

It is the highest figure for that Jan – Sep period since 3,780 in 2019.

To put it in perspective, 2025’s figure is well below the first nine months of 2009 – when there were 25,481 repossessions by county court bailiffs. But since the financial crisis the figure had been trending down – recently it has been ticking up.