BOLTON has been named as one of the top 10 hotspots outside of London where renters are most likely to face the risk of losing their home.

Housing charity Shelter has used Ministry of Justice figures to work out the number of possession claims made by private and social landlords in certain areas between October, 2014 and September, 2015.

In Bolton, there were 1,148 possession claims made by landlords in the courts last year, which equated to one claim for every 37 rented household in the local authority area.

This ranks the borough in 28th place in the list of eviction-risk hotspots in the country — but in ninth place of areas outside of London.

Bolton also came in third place in the list in terms of local authorities in the North West, behind Rochdale and Halton in Cheshire.

Across the country, Shelter found that more than 352,000 rental sector tenants in England have faced the threat of losing their home over the last year — equating to one tenant every 90 seconds.

The charity, said that one in every 55 rented households in England was put at risk of losing their home over the last year.

Possession claims do not necessarily end in the tenant being evicted, although Shelter's figures suggest that in around one in three cases tenants do end up losing their home.

There were 149,542 possession claims between the start of October, 2014 and the end of September, 2015.

Based on the typical number of people living in a rented home, this equates to around 352,919 renters facing the threat of losing their home over the last year, Shelter said.

The charity said that rapidly rising rents, drastic cuts to housing benefit and a chronic lack of genuinely affordable homes are ramping up the pressure on tenants.

Alison Mohammed, Shelter's director of services, said: "It's shocking to think that every couple of minutes someone receives a notice through the door with the devastating news that they might lose their home.

"We speak to parents every day who are desperately trying to keep a roof over their children's heads, but with rents soaring and housing support being slashed, many are finding themselves at breaking point."

A spokesman for Bolton at Home, the borough’s social housing landlord said: “Bolton at Home manages around a sixth of all households in Bolton. We see eviction as a last resort and anticipate it will affect no more than 0.5% of our tenants in relation to rent arrears this year.

"We also operate a ‘no homelessness’ policy. This means that any tenants evicted from their home due to rent arrears accrued solely as a result of the bedroom tax will be guaranteed a move to another home, so long as they engage with us to address arrears issues.

“Bolton at Home tenants can access a dedicated debt and money advice service (phone 01204 329868). It has generated over £1.5 million of financial gains for our customers since April.”