Landlords and agents who use Section 21 notices blamed for higher homelessness
Comments have been made by several campaign groups following the latest official statistics which show a record high number of S21 based evictions last year.
Campaigners have blamed landlords and letting agents who use Section 21 evictions to eject tenants for an increase in homelessness.
Quarterly official figures for the final three months of 2023 reveal that Section 21 notices as a reason for homelessness reached record levels during 2023.
Those served a Section 21 eviction notice by their landlord and who then asked for help from their local authority reached a record 25,910 last year, and the number for the final three months of 2023 revealed a 11% rise.
The Renters Reform Coalition says these figures show that abolishing Section 21 evictions should be banned ‘immediately’ rather than wait for the court system to be improved, something the Labour party has committed to if it wins the next election.
Shattered
Tom Darling, Campaign Manager at the Renters Reform Coalition, says: “Shockingly, homelessness statistics in England continue to see new records shattered every few months.
“Every week sees more families evicted and growing pressure on the budgets of councils struggling to meet the rising cost of homelessness support.”
The London Renters Union has gone further, saying: “Homeless or otherwise, landlords are exploiting our human right to housing. We must fight to take back their wealth and power”.
Darling argues that to reverse the trend of more people losing their homes, the Renters (Reform) Bill needs to include measures to ban Section 21 as soon as possible, blaming pro-landlord MPs for recent amendments that will see the ban delayed until the speed of the courts improve.
Selling up
Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action agrees that the Government needs to take action, but for different reasons.
“It’s important to recognise that the uncertainty surrounding the future of Section 21 has already led many landlords to sell their properties.
“This trend ultimately impacts tenants by shrinking the pool of available rental properties, leading to increased competition and potentially higher rents.”
Short Memories
Has everyone forgotten Covid-19?
Evictions were banned for two clear years.
Shelter et al have conveniently forgotten this hiatus.
How do I know?
A tenant working as a buyer for a major housebuilder, not furloughed or had his wages cut, stopped paying his rent to me.
Once the eviction ban was lifted he resumed payment less £20 per week.
Can we point out to the tenant lobby mouthpieces (Polly Nate of Shelter is on £140,000 a year, check their accounts).
That if you take all evictions over the 3 years where they were possible and divide by 5 years the rate of eviction is below the long term average.
Why?
Rents have increased above the rate of inflation.
Many tenants are staying in the same property unless the landlord attempts an unrealistic rent increase.
Look at the rate of rent increase in Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon felt she was “cutting living costs for Scottish tenants”
Now her political career is toast,
Scottish tenants that do not have “rent controlled tenancies” are paying a lot more as properties come back on to the market.
We had rent control for most of the last century due to World Wars.
The politicians learned nothing and are doomed to make the same mistakes again.
Just build more houses, social or private it does not matter.
745,000 people arrived in the UK in 2023 alone, where are they all living?
We only built 180,000 new houses in 2023.
That is over 4 people per house built.
The result of the life expectancy of a Housing Minister over this and the last 26 years Labour, Conservative or Lib/Con administrations has been 7 months.
To quote the late great Terry Thomas “Shower, absolute shower”
Renters Reform Coalition, London Renters Union, Shelter, Generation Rent, ACORN, et al. are ACTUALLY the rooot cause of homelessnessin the UK. Their incessant demonisation of Landlords, and campaigning Government for evermore regualtions and taxation of Landlords is what is driving Landlrods to sell up and exit the PRS uisng Sec.21 to gain possession of THEIR properties.
They cannot get it through their thick skulls that Sec.21 is a process not a reason for homelessness. When Sec.21 i aabolished evictions will still continue but will use hopefully the improved Sec.8 instead which is more costly which will drive up rents still further and drive out more Landlrods who don’t want the hassle. So TES Sec.21’s will be increasing in the run to the abolition of Sec.21 because these faux tenant rights organisations have persudaed the Government to do so. REAP WHAT YOU SOW!!!
So on the few occasions we have issued a section 21 notice following the formality required for the landlord to either move back into the property or prepare it for a sale, those tenants were, without my knowledge, evicted by a bailiff and ended upon the streets rough sleeping and homeless. Gosh, I now accept full responsibility for the higher levels of homelessness . Come on all you landlords and agents lets make a difference and do something about these injustices, stop throwing their tenants out onto the streets and making them homeless.
Section 21s blamed for higher homelessness? Utter tosh.
Try – demonisation of the private rental sector. Landlord licensing. Multiple interest rate rises. Renter reform act. Net migration running at 700,000 a year. Not building anywhere near enough homes to cope with the UK population crises. Removal of tax relief on mortgage interest. I could go on……..
Its an utter shambles but our political class and activists wheel out the same old tropes. Its gonna get worse a lot worse and dont think banning Sect 21 notices will improve matters.
We’ve off loaded about 15% of our rental stock already because of the imminent s21 ban. The pool or rentals will plummet, again.
So, the 4th paragraph that states nearly 26000 asked their local authority for help… Does this not show how much our government have screwed up this country.
If the private rented sector was just for private tenants who wanted the flexibility of movement, none of this would be a problem.
But the government’s bigger plan over the last 30+ years, to rid themselves of responsibility to those NEEDING housing, selling of social housing and not replacing it, has forced so many social housing tenants into the private sector, adding so many more stresses to the whole sector.
Government, please step up.
Stop wasting our money on wars, crap PPE, HS2, useless road schemes and more, but nvest it where needed, housing for those that need it and put police back on our streets not cameras.