‘It was a massive shock’: the tenants facing eviction as landlords raise rent or sell up
L aura Hayton, 46, a part-time project manager in the public sector and single mother from south Devon, had been renting her house for six years when she was informed in December that her rent would increase by 20%.
“The landlord can’t make their sums add up so they need to raise the rent. They wanted £225 more a month, an absolute fortune,” she says. “The letting agent told me that it’s still a ‘fair rent’, and that they had all gone up round here recently.”
Hayton tried to negotiate for a smaller increase but instead received an eviction notice in January.
“It was a massive shock, I was really upset and felt very insecure. For days it was all I could talk about. I have two children; they think of this as their home. The agent said the landlord wants to sell the house so they can buy a house in the Cotswolds.
“I wasn’t even given three months to find somewhere new. I started looking immediately and found the market absolutely ridiculous, really competitive. I spoke to letting agents and they said: ‘Have you got pets or kids? Yeah, well, landlords don’t want children.’”
Hayton rang the council and was told she would have to move 20 miles away and lose a bedroom to get a council property. “That would have meant I’d be driving and spending loads on fuel, and would have less time to work.”
In the end, she says, she got “very lucky” because she managed to secure a new rental after seeing a neighbour move out, and will be moving in a few weeks’ time.
“The rent at the new place is 13% more than my old one. They did the affordability check and said I can’t afford it, so I had to show them evidence of savings to cover the shortfall. I will be spending my house deposit to cover the rent, to make ends meet. It’s a landlords’ market, as
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