Record number of renters ask Citizens Advice for help with no fault evictions
Record number of tenants turn to Citizens Advice for help with soon-to-be banned ‘no fault’ evictions: are new rules enough to protect them?
- Demand for no-fault eviction support is up 9% this year, charity says
- Landlords are facing a tough environment with rising mortgage rates and loss of rights
Citizens Advice assisted 2,000 no-fault evictions in May, the highest number of people recorded in a single month and 25 percent more than the same month last year.
Also known as Section 21 evictions, these allow private landlords to repossess their property without having to establish a fault on the tenant’s part.
So far this year, the charity has seen a 9 per cent increase in the number of people seeking help for these types of evictions, compared to the same period in 2022.
Citizens Advice is a network of independent charities that provide free confidential advice
The government plans to end no-fault evictions under the Renters Reform Bill currently passing through parliament, but Citizens Advice has warned the changes don’t go far enough to protect tenants.
The law still allows landlords to evict tenants six months after a lease if they want to sell the property or move in with a family member.
However, the new rules don’t require landlords to prove they’ve followed through once a tenant has moved out.
Research by Citizens Advice found that 48 per cent of tenants who have experienced an eviction were told their landlord wanted to sell.
In addition, the charity warns that landlords could use excessive rent increases to evict tenants.
Last year, 1.8 million households received a rent increase or were threatened with an increase, while 300,000 tenants had to leave their homes due to such an increase.
The charity found that less than 10 per cent of tenants challenging a rent increase from their landlord were successful.
According to the consumer group Which? while rents hit new highs.
Rents outside London rose to an average of £1,190 a month as tenants battled over a lack of properties to rent out.
Matthew Upton, acting executive director of policy and advocacy at Citizens Advice, said: ‘Our advisers are increasingly hearing from tenants forced to uproot their entire lives after receiving a Section 21 notice.
Reforms in the private rental sector are welcome, but they are open to abuse by unscrupulous landlords. The government must ensure that the reforms are watertight and do not contain loopholes that allow Section 21 evictions to go through the back door.”
The charity is calling on the government to extend the duration of protection for new tenants against ‘no fault’ grounds for eviction from six months to two years.
It also wants measures put in place to ensure that landlords claiming to sell a property cannot quickly relet it.
Many landlords say they have been forced to raise rents because of increased mortgage payments.
According to an analysis by broker Mortgages for Business, one in three landlords struggle to secure a new mortgage after failing their lender’s affordability test.
In just two years, the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen from 2.96 percent to 5.80 percent, according to figures from Moneyfacts.
Changes in mortgage interest deductions and reductions in landlord taxes, such as wear and tear, have contributed to a more difficult environment for landlords.
However, when This Money polled landlords’ views on the new legislation, the response was mixed.
While some said the end of no-fault evictions was the final straw that pushed them out of the industry, others were more optimistic and took a long-term view in hopes of overcoming the current turmoil.