Profile incomplete
10:07 AM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago 32
Text Size
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.
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.”
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.
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’:
Fred M BARRETT
13:07 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Ray Guselli at 18/04/2024 - 12:06
Actually it's about 91.5% who are not facing S21 or S8 notices. Shelter through up big numbers but not the context. It may even be higher if some of the tenants are joint tenancy holders. Note they merely said tenants - not tenancies face S notices
GlanACC
13:27 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
How can Shelter possibly think 1,000,000 of these S21 were for 'no fault' , some may be for landlords putting the rent up, some may be for landlord selling up BUT I would think at least 90% (lets be generous here) are for non payment of rent or anti-social behaviour. Shelter have NO statistics to back up their numbers
Trapped Landlord
14:56 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 18/04/2024 - 10:18
The tory government have no interest in controlling the borders out of fear and the incoming labour government look set to welcome illegals with open arms. Neither party is interested in the welfare of landlords and for the most part, tenants !. The ironic thing is, all of the undesirables we have evicted over the last few years will have more than likely been snubbed out of the private sector for the foreseeable and now have now been chucked onto the ever growing council housing list. Turns out an exploding population is good for business.
NewYorkie
15:00 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 18/04/2024 - 13:27
They don't need statistics when their target audience laps up the bones they thrown at them.
Cider Drinker
15:52 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Dear Shelter (who don’t provide shelter to anyone)
How many Section 21 Notices have been issued as a direct result of the threat of the Renters (Reform) Bill?
No answer, eh?
Regards
Property OWNER (providing shelter to a number of families - for now)
Neil Robb
16:15 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
They get a lot of their figures from a small survey of 2000 people who no doubt have contacted them so are not a true reflection.
Mr Blueberry
17:06 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
It is hard to sympathise with a charity that exaggerates or is untruthful. It lessens their credibility with political parties and those that finance and subsidise their work.
If I read this correctly, the charity says, by way of their extrapolation, of the 4.6M PRS homes, landlords caused 830,000 tenants to move in one year. If their figure is extrapolated, it means 20% of all PRS tenancies last a year or less, which is clearly inaccurate.
Again, the charity does itself no credit in saying the proposed Renters Reform Bill is 'watered down into insignificance.' This is another exaggeration. There are only three main issues with the bill and they all make good sense: firstly, the issue of student letting that needs to run in alignment with term times and that all the relevant parties are in agreement with; secondly, the introduction of a minimum rental period for tenants to avoid them using PRS as short-term letting platform; and thirdly improving the Court process, which nobody can disagree with, is slow and cumbersome needs urgent reform.
NewYorkie
17:38 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Ask the average person in the street what shelter does, and they will say they provide 'shelter' for the homeless. How wrong can they be!
Paul
18:33 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 18/04/2024 - 11:22We do have a choice, but due to life cycles of lending or tenants it can take a few years to allow a natural end of a tenancy or mortgage term before one can extract oneself from a property. In the mean time, I think we can have a little grumble 🙂
At the moment I personally have not been really effected by any legislation passed. Times move and we change what and how we do it. I will keep my portfolio running another 3-5 years unless something bad happens, then I will dump out at the end of any lending terms.
LaLo
18:49 PM, 18th April 2024, About a month ago
Reply to the comment left by Nikki Palmer at 18/04/2024 - 10:34
If Shelter started renting out property, they would be out of a job and may have to start a new one called ‘Investor Beware’.