‘You have no security’: the households affected by no-fault evictions
T he government promised to ban no-fault evictions in its 2019 election manifesto and a renters reform bill was included in the December 2019 Queen’s speech, but it never materialised, until this week.
In the meantime thousands of households have been evicted after being served a section 21 notice, which the new renters reform bill finally proposes to ban.
Among them is Chiara Daughtry, 33, a teacher in Walthamstow, London, who was issued with a no-fault eviction notice in January after complaining about long-term damp problems and refusing a 24% rent rise at the two bedroom flat she shares with her husband, Ben, and their three-year-old daughter, Maggie.
Despite paying £1,250 a month, the flat was plagued by rotten wooden sash windows letting water in, damp coming from a waterlogged cellar below and water coming in through air bricks.
Council inspectors came to see the problems on several occasions, but nothing was fixed and on Christmas Eve, the letting agent said the landlord wanted to increase the rent to £1,550.
Daughtry wrote saying “we won’t be paying any increase until you address the issues” and the next communication the family received from the landlord was a section 21 notice, she said.
“It was really distressing and really upsetting,” she added. “You have no security as a renter here. We are a family. We don’t want to move every year or two years. It felt very unfair as a teacher working hard. And there are zero consequences for the letting agent or the landlord.”
She said she feared that removing no-fault evictions would not end the problem and that landlords would be able to manipulate other grounds for evictions in the absence of more resources for council housing officials to carry out checks. She also said
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