You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
One in 12 private renters served ‘no fault’ eviction notice during pandemic, survey finds
Nearly 10% of private renters have been served with a Section 21 notice since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, a new poll commissioned by Generation Rent has found.
A survey of 1,008 private renters in the UK, carried out by Survation, found that one in 12 have been issued the so-called ‘no fault’ eviction notices, which allow landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason.
Generation Rent said the poll indicates that as many as 694,000 private tenants have been served with a Section 21 notice during the pandemic.
In addition to the 8% of respondents who had received a Section 21 notice from their landlord since March 2020, a further 3% received a Section 8 notice, which involves the landlord providing a reason, while 7% were asked to move out without a formal notice.
The survey comes exactly two years since Theresa May’s government announced plans to abolish Section 21 and introduce open-ended tenancies.
READ MORE
While the current government’s manifesto repeated its commitment to ending Section 21, ministers have said that legislation will not be introduced until the urgency of responding to the pandemic is over.
Generation Rent’s survey also found that one in three private renters fear that they will lose their home in the year ahead, potentially representing nearly three million adults in England.
During the first six months of the COVID-19 crisis, courts were banned from hearing eviction cases, although landlords could still issue notices during this time.
Courts are now hearing possession cases, but bailiffs are banned from entering people’s homes to enforce any court-granted evictions until the end of May.
Notice periods have also been extended to six months except in some cases, including where arrears total more than six months’ worth of rent.
Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent, said: “A Section 21 notice pulls the rug out from under you. As long as the landlord serves it correctly, you have to move out.
“That means very few tenants challenge it in court. And because landlords don’t need a reason for eviction, it also means that many tenants live in fear of losing their home and families throughout England have no confidence to put down roots in their local area.
“Renters have been waiting two years for the government to make good on its promise to ban these unfair evictions. If it weren’t for Section 21, 700,000 renters would not have faced an unwanted move during a pandemic and millions more would have confidence to plan their lives.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Robust protections remain in place for renters, including longer notice periods of six months and banning bailiff enforcement of evictions for all but the most serious cases.
“We’re committed to repealing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 to improve security for tenants and strengthen the rights of landlords.”
Sign up for our tenancy management newsletter
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters
