One million renters handed section 21 notices since 2019 – Shelter

Homelessness charity Shelter claims that since the government unveiled plans in 2019 to abolish Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, nearly one million tenants have been evicted under the process.

It also warns that any further delay in banning Section 21 will see more renters being ‘tipped into homelessness’.

The charity’s survey also found that the moving costs for tenants are around £550m every year.

And in the past 12 months, 830,000 tenants say they’ve had to relocate against their wishes after a tenancy ended, they were priced out by a rent rise or were handed a Section 21 notice.

That’s 500 renters having to relocate every day, Shelter claims.

Tenants are facing rising costs

The charity also says that being forced to move means tenants are facing rising costs for upfront deposits and rents which cost more than £1bn every year – which is £1,245 per person, on average.

Shelter’s chief executive, Polly Neate, said: “Tenants are coughing up millions in unwanted and unwarranted moves, while the government runs scared of a minority of its own MPs.

“Instead of striking dodgy deals with backbenchers to strangle the Renters (Reform) Bill, Ministers should defend renters’ best hope of a stable home.”

She adds: “With protections from eviction so weak and rents so high, we constantly hear from people forced out of their homes and communities at huge personal cost.

“It’s impossible for renters to put down roots knowing a no-fault eviction could plunge them back into chaos at any moment.”

Renters (Reform) Bill is set to return to Parliament

The Renters (Reform) Bill, which aims to abolish no-fault evictions, is set to return to Parliament next week but a leaked letter from Levelling Up Minister Jacob Young revealed plans to dilute the much-anticipated bill.

Shelter’s survey also found that 40% of all renters questioned had been forced to move.

The reasons for these varied, with 245,000 tenants having to move because their fixed-term tenancy ended and 61,000 being priced out due to a rent increase.

Nearly 190,000 received a legal eviction notice, and 135,000 were informally asked to leave by their landlord.

The cost of moving leads to unrecoverable costs for tenants

Shelter says that the cost of moving leads to unrecoverable costs for tenants, including overlapping rent and bill payments, property viewing and moving costs, cleaning fees and one-off charges like wi-fi installation.

On average, these costs leave renters £669 out of pocket.

When adding other upfront costs, such as advance rent payments and tenancy deposits, the average cost of each unwanted move rises to £1,245, totalling more than £1bn collectively, Shelter says.

The figures do not include rising living costs and rent increases – and this week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that rents had increased by £107 per month (9.1%), and by £207 per month in London (11.2%) in the year up to March.

Watch the Sky News report on this issue, including an interview with Jacob Young, who explains that the MPs who want changes understand how the private rented sector operates. Landlords might also be surprised to hear the reporter claim at the end that ‘It’s all too often that charities like Shelter are left to pick up the bill for renters like Natalie’:

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