If the Tories U-turn on no-fault evictions, they’ll be guaranteeing misery for renters
The Tories have not exactly hidden their contempt for the British public over the past 12 years, but they’re not even trying to maintain the facade any more. In Liz Truss’s latest gambit to hand Keir Starmer the keys to Downing Street, the government may be about to break its promise of banning no-fault evictions. It risks creating a homelessness catastrophe this winter.
In 2019, then prime minister Theresa May announced the renters’ reform bill. Included in the bill was a pledge to abolish section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 – a wonderfully cruel bit of legislation passed by Margaret Thatcher that allows landlords to evict private renters on short notice for no good reason.
The government said the bill would “provide greater certainty for tenants and make the housing market fit for the 21st century”. Three years later, the housing market feels more like the 19th century. Many tenants are crammed into cramped flatshares in dilapidated dwellings while landlords count their profits. No-fault evictions have soared – according to the government’s own figures, 19,790 households in England were at risk of losing their homes in the last financial year due to this type of eviction, an increase of 121% on the previous year. There was also a 53% increase in private tenants seeking homelessness assistance.
The word “crisis” is bandied around far too readily. But that feels like an accurate description of the state of the nation’s housing. The classic comedy character Edmund Blackadder summed it up best: “This is a crisis, a large crisis. A 12-storey crisis with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour porterage and an enormous sign on the roof saying, ‘This is a Large Crisis!’”
It’s the crisis Thatcher built. It
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