THE number of cases for debt recovery, eviction and repossession have plummeted in Scotland’s courts since the financial crash.
New official figures show sheriffs and judges dealing with far fewer people and companies who owe money than in the difficult years of 2007-2008.
Numbers published by the Scottish Government’s chief statistician found there were 30,000 cases of debt recovery, more than half small claims, through Scottish courts, in 2016-17.
That is down 54 per cent from 2007-2008 and 12 per cent from the year before. Nearly two out of three of them were settled in favour of the pursuer.
The figures still represent large numbers of people struggling to pay what they owe, especially the poorest. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, the chief statistician’s report said, found four per cent of Scotland said they had debt problems. That figure fell to two percent for owner-occupiers but rose to a dramatic nine per cent for private renters.
The financial crash brought a spike in repossessions. The latest numbers suggest a real easing of such actions. There was a 6 per cent drop in initiated cases of repossession following a breach of a mortgage or loan secured on a property compared to 2015-16. This continues a long-term downward trend of 83 per cent 2008-09.
The report said: “The overall decrease in the number of repossession cases since 2008-09 is likely to be linked to the overall recovery in the Scottish economy during this period.” But it added that a court case in Northern Ireland had forced lenders to reconsider how they pursue mortgage arrears also helped change numbers. There were, nevertheless, 1,753 homes and other properties subject to proceedings for repossession by lenders in the course of the year,.
The trends for attempted evictions of tenants are not so clear cut. They dropped three per cent during the year. But that was the first decline in three years and there were still 14,000 such proceedings. Two out of three of the cases were brought by councils with many others understood to be other social landlords.
The figures were still down by more than quarter since 2007-2008. The report said: “The increased focus on the management of rent arrears cases by local authorities and registered social landlords is likely to have contributed to the overall reduction in social rented sector rent arrears cases coming to court since 2008-09.”
The drop in debt cases helped make Scottish courts less busy. Debt cases account for more than two-fifths civil actions in Scotland’s courts.
The total number of civil actions - which includes claims for personal injuries or divorce - was down five per cent on the year and 44 per cent on the decade. Nearly 60 per cent of damage cases related to road traffic accidents. But the trend remains downwards for such cases too.
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