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Renters Reform Bill: No-fault evictions up by 42% as law stalls [1]
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Date: 2023-08
More than 11,000 households have been evicted by their landlord this year as the government continues to stall on its long-awaited renters' reforms.
The total number of evictions of social and private tenants in England has risen by more than a third compared to the same period last year, according to new statistics published by the Ministry of Justice today.
It comes as rents increased at the fastest pace for seven years, rising by 4.9% in the 12 months to March.
Tenant campaign groups say the government must act immediately to bring down rents.
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Last month, chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a new package of support for mortgage holders struggling to keep up with their payments amid rising interest rates.
The measures mean that mortgage holders won’t be forced to have their homes repossessed within 12 months from their first missed payment and also give people the option of switching to an interest-only mortgage for six months.
But there was no such help for tenants facing soaring rent increases.
The government has repeatedly promised to ban Section 21 evictions, better known as no-fault evictions, in its Renters (Reform) Bill, which was first announced in 2019. In May, the bill was finally introduced to Parliament for its first reading, but has not progressed since.
At least 4,478 private rented households have been evicted using Section 21 notices already this year – a 42% increase on the same period last year. The true number is likely higher, but there is no way of knowing because the Ministry of Justice does not provide a full breakdown of reasons for repossessions.
Kate Bradley, a housing caseworker at the Greater Manchester Law Centre, told openDemocracy: “We’re seeing huge numbers of rent rises being served. It's unprecedented.
“I’ve got colleagues who’ve worked as housing lawyers for a couple of decades and they’ve never seen rent rises like this before. It’s not only the number of rent rises we’re being asked about, it’s also the amount. I’d never seen a rise of 143% before.”
While charities and campaigners say that the Renters (Reform Bill) is a step in the right direction, they believe it won’t be enough to tackle the problem of spiralling rents. That’s in part because while Section 21 evictions will be banned, other means of evicting tenants will still exist – including rent arrears evictions.
Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “The government has to go further if we want to stop the rental market being an active threat to renters’ wellbeing. We need better protections for tenants whose landlord is selling, benefit support that is linked to actual rents, and building of more homes, particularly social homes, to bring down rents.”
Homelessness charity Shelter said hundreds of families risk being made homeless every day because of the combination of record high rents and no-fault evictions.
The charity’s CEO Polly Neate said: “Landlords can too easily use and abuse the current system. Some will hike up the rent and if their tenants can’t pay, they will slap them with a no-fault eviction notice and find others who can. We speak to renters all the time who feel like they have zero control over their own lives because the threat of eviction is constantly hanging over them.”
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