Landlords have hit back at claims by housing charity Shelter that tenants in the private rented sector are at high risk of eviction.

A new poll carried out for Shelter claims that nearly a million renters are currently at risk of eviction – amounting to one in 12 tenancies.

The survey found that 504,000 private renters had received or been threatened with an eviction notice in the last month, up 80% on the same period last year, while 482,000 were behind on their rent.

The research also found that a quarter of private renters – equivalent to 2.8 million people – are constantly struggling to pay their rent, an increase of nearly a quarter (24%) compared with the same period last year.

Shelter claimed in a statement that “the fear of becoming homeless is looming large over millions of people stuck living in insecure private rentals”.

‘Landlords want tenants to stay’

However landlords have reacted angrily to to the claims. Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: “The vast majority of landlords want to help tenants stay in their homes wherever possible.”

He added: “We are working with the government to ensure the system that replaces Section 21 repossessions is fair and workable for responsible landlords as well as tenants. This needs to include ensuring landlords can effectively tackle the problem of anti-social tenants and those building substantial rent arrears.”

But Shelter and the NRLA did agree on one thing – the need for the government to lift the freeze on housing benefit, which has remained the same since 2020, and is based on rental figures from 2019.

 “The government’s refusal to unfreeze housing benefit, when private rents are rising at record rates, means the rental crisis is fast becoming a homelessness emergency,” commented Shelter’s Chief Executive Polly Neate.

Meanwhile Norris for the NRLA said the government “needs to do more to support those most in need of help”.

He added: “This should include unfreezing housing benefit rates. It is simply absurd that support for housing costs is being linked to rents as they were three years ago, not as they are today.”

Norris also believes it is vital that ministers address the supply crisis in the rental market.

“Recent tax hikes have served only to cut the number of homes available to rent, whilst demand continues to remain strong. All this is doing is driving rents up and making homes harder to access,” he said.