Homelessness charity Shelter is calling on the government to scrap Section 21 eviction, saying losing a private tenancy is the second biggest cause of homelessness.
Almost 237,000 private renters in England have been served a Section 21 eviction notice in the past three years, a YouGov poll has suggested.
The government has already committed to ban the practice “as soon as possible”, but Shelter says people cannot wait, describing the situation as “appalling”.
Shelter CEO, Polly Neate, said: “Millions of private renters are living in limbo – never truly able to settle – in case their landlord kicks them out on a whim.”
Shelter is asking the government to use the Queen’s speech next month to honour its pledge to deliver a Renters Reform bill – including banning Section 21 no fault evictions.
But the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has slammed Shelter for scaremongering.
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, commented: “Shelter needs to stop its campaign of scaremongering. The vast majority of landlords do not spend their time plotting ways to get rid of their tenants for no reason.
“Official data shows that fewer than 10% of tenants who move do so because they are asked to by their landlord or letting agent. Likewise, the number of cases coming to court as a result of Section 21 notices has been falling since 2015.
“The government has committed to abolishing Section 21 possessions, but this has got to be replaced by a system that is both fair and workable for both tenants and landlords. Simply getting rid of Section 21 on its own would, for example, make it all but impossible to take action against anti-social tenants who blight the lives of neighbours and fellow tenants.
“The NRLA has published its detailed plans for a new system that strikes the right balance. We urge Shelter to work constructively with us on these.”
SOURCE: Property Industry Eye | APRIL 28, 2022 | MARC DA SILVA
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