More than 15,000 renters could lose their homes before no-fault evictions are banned

Thousands of tenants could be forced out of their homes before new rules to ban no-fault evictions come into effect, a campaign group has warned.

The new law promises more rights to challenge unfair rent increases, targets landlords who do not fix moldy homes and prevents tenants from being given section 21 orders, which allow a landlord to ask a tenant to leave their premises without giving a reason.

However, the Renters Reform Coalition, which includes 21 organizations that support private renters, says such orders could be used thousands of times while waiting for the bill to become law.

The group warned that based on current methods, more than 15,600 rental families will be evicted by bailiffs in the first six months of 2025. The figure represents an increase of 12.2 percent in the first half of last year.

The bill will return to the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon for its remaining stages, having passed its first and second readings and scrutiny by a parliamentary committee last year. It will then head to the National Headquarters for further consideration.

Lucy Tiller, the RRC’s policy manager, said the law was unlikely to come into force until the summer, pointing out that the number of no-fault evictions was at an eight-year high.

“Some of the increase is due to the fact that there was a significant breakdown during the violence and we are still growing from that, but there is actually a large number of evictions in Section 21 at the moment”, he said. Metro.

“We think that, since the last government promised in 2019 to close Section 21, over 100,000 families have been threatened with homelessness and 1,000,000 have received Section 21 evictions, so these are huge numbers.”

The coalition used Department of Justice figures to estimate there would be 15,637 “landlord restitution actions” in the first half of this year, based on the increase recorded between 2023 and 2024. The number includes private, council and housing association rented housing. .

It comes after RRC director Tom Darling in October 2024 warned of a “wave of evictions” before the Section 21 ban comes into effect.

But campaigners also welcome changes that should mean prospective employers no longer have to “make eye-watering summaries ahead”.

The proposed amendment would stop landlords from demanding a month’s rent in advance from a new tenant, with the charity Shelter calling it a “discriminatory practice”.

But Polly Neate, the charity’s chief executive, urged the government to go further, saying: “With beneficiaries almost twice as likely to be denied employment by renting, the Government is absolutely right to implement the Employers’ Bill of Rights. to rule this practice of discrimination.

But paying a foot in the door isn’t the only cost employers face. We hear all the time about tenants being forced to uproot and move when the landlord raises the rent to ridiculous levels – last year 900 tenants moved a day because of rent they couldn’t afford.

“In order to make renting more secure and affordable, the Bill should limit property rent increases in line with inflation or wage growth. Other discriminatory practices, such as the unnecessary requirements of security guards, which drive homelessness by locking people out of private rent, must also be abolished.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Our Tenants’ Bill of Rights will deliver on our promise to transform the private rented sector, so that people can put down roots and save for the future without fear of eviction.” – including plans to end ‘no-fault’ evictions for all existing and new tenants at once.

“Through our Change Plan, we will address the broader housing crisis that we have directly inherited, build the homes we need, and bring a major boost to affordable public housing for a generation.”