19^th Oct 2018

Croydon has just become the first council in England calling for the abolition of Section 21 that allows the eviction of problem tenants but also private landlords evicting tenants without providing any information on why.

In last night's full council meeting Monday 8th October, a motion was passed making Croydon to become the first council officially supporting the End Unfair Evictions campaign coalition, which was formed between Generation Rent, the London Renters Union, ACORN and the New Economics Foundation.

The coalition is demanding that the government to once and for all abolish ‘no-fault evictions’ in England and to make it mandatory for more secure, open-ended tenancies following the Scotland model.

There is no doubt that many more councils will quickly follow suit.

The Croydon Council cabinet member for Homes & Gateway Services and Deputy Leader who proposed the motion, Alison Butler, said: “The biggest cause of homelessness in Croydon is evictions in the private rental sector.

“With Croydon having lost around 70% of its budget since 2010, we are struggling to deal with the scale of this problem and it is unacceptable that private landlords are able to evict vulnerable tenants so easily, leaving the public sector to pick up the bill.”

Section 21 is claimed to be the biggest cause of homelessness because across the UK, 216 households every week are made homeless by no-fault evictions.

Homeless families being re-housed in temporary accommodation is costing councils at least £845m per year across the nation.

No fault evictions have been used as a loophole by some rogue landlords to evict tenants who complain about necessary repairs that should be carried out. Since 2015 there has been approximately 141,000 'revenge evictions', just under half of the cases involve tenants who complained about the property and were told to get out.

According to campaigners it is extremely difficult for councils to ensure there is a good standard of rented homes because of the threat of revenge evictions, and the current legislation which outlaws the practice is not deemed fit for purpose.

The councillor who seconded the motion, Niroshan Sirisena said: “It is important for councils to help renters whose landlords are failing in their legal duties to maintain safe and decent homes, but our job is made harder by the law that lets landlords kick out tenants who raise complaints.

“By abolishing Section 21, we will give tenants confidence to complain, make it easier for councils to tackle criminal landlords and thus drive up standards.”

The authority's support for the campaign comes just under two weeks after Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Housing and Planning, Jon Healey, announced at the party's conference that Labour will abolish Section 21 when they win the next election.

Children England, London Age UK and UNISON are some of the numerous organisations calling for the end of no-fault evictions.

Michael Deas, coordinator of the London Renters Union, part of the End Unfair Evictions campaign, said: “We are delighted that Croydon has backed the campaign to end Section 21, during a national homelessness crisis, it cannot be right that landlords are able to kick out their tenants without good reason, causing misery for the people affected and pushing the cost onto taxpayers.

“The government must respond to the growing calls to end no-fault evictions by introducing secure tenancies and requiring landlords who evict blameless tenants to pay compensation; this would discourage evictions and help families forced to move pay the costs associated with finding a new home.”

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