Home repossession claims have continued to plummet drastically across Shropshire and Mid Wales compared to the start of the recession, new figures have revealed.

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that claims dropped by 54 per cent at Shrewsbury County Court between July and September 2009 compared to 2008 and that is reflected elsewhere in the region.

Massive reductions in the number of claims have also been recorded in the Telford & Wrekin area, which saw a 40 per cent drop.

And in Mid Wales, Powys has seen a 44 per cent drop in repossession claims.

Claims are made as part of the first step of the repossession of properties while orders are the final part.

The figures from the ministry show that there were 60 repossession claims in the Shropshire unitary authority area, between July and September.

In the Telford & Wrekin area there were 75 and in Powys there were 30.

And the trend appears to be happening across county courts in England and Wales.

The latest statistical bulletin from the Ministry of Justice this month covering the final quarter of 2009, October to December, shows that the number of claims is continuing to fall.

It says: “20,061 mortgage possession claims were issued on a seasonally adjusted basis, 26 per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 15 per cent lower than in the third quarter of 2009.”

The report claims that the introduction of a new Mortgage Pre Action Protocol, which came into effect in November 2008, has helped more people to stay on in their homes.

It says: “The protocol gives clear guidance on what the courts expect lenders and borrowers to have done prior to a claim being issued.

“The main aims of it were to ensure that the parties act fairly and reasonably with each other in any matters concerning the mortgage arrears, to encourage more pre-action contact between lender and borrower and to enable efficient use of the court’s time and resources.”

It added: “The introduction of the MPAP coincided with a fall of around 50 per cent in the daily and weekly numbers of new mortgage repossession claims being issued in the courts as evidenced from administrative records.”