5th
Apr 2021
Citizens Advice claims it is receiving calls from worried private tenants at a rate of one person every minute concerning issues over renting with their landlords.
In January and February the charity claims there was a 40% rise in renters needing one-to-one advice experiencing problems with renting compared to the same period last year.
The Citizens Advice’s surveyed its national Tenants’ Voice panel and found that renters are very concerned by the possibility of being evicted despite the ban’s extension, with around a third stating that they have become increasingly worried over the last few months.
The CA’s website shows that in the first two months of this year 69,000 separate visitors had viewed its help pages concerning issues with private tenancies.
The charity also said it had helped around 16,530 callers with one-to-one advice on private tenancies problems in January and February, and said: “That’s one every minute during office hours.”
Help calls included 29% that related to issues over maintenance and repairs, 9% were distraught about possible possession action which had nothing to with owing rent and 5% said their landlords were harassing them.
4% of calls were made by renters needing help and advice on being illegally evicted.
The charity highlights one of its case studies called Sophia, a single parent with a young child caring for her disabled father living with them, whilst at the same time being employed as a teaching assistant.
“She came to Citizens Advice for help when she was issued with a Section 21 eviction notice by her landlord after complaining about maintenance problems, including extended periods without heating or hot water. She has paid hundreds of pounds out of her own money for repairs. This has left her struggling to afford the rent and her landlord has said he’s charging her 8.1 per cent interest a day for late rent.”
Sophia says she is unable to sleep because of the impending eviction.
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