The Tory government’s failure to act is a staggering betrayal of Wychavon renters.
The Conservatives promised to ban no-fault evictions in April 2019 – yet almost five years on the practice is still legal. Now we hear that they have abandoned their pledge to ban such evictions before the next election, which was repeated by Michael Gove, the minister responsible, a matter of weeks ago. This news leaves Wychavon’s 7,700 renters without the protection they were promised.
This leaves thousands of renters across Wychavon without protection from arbitrary, so-called ‘Section 21 evictions’ at any moment at the whim of a greedy landlord. This is a staggering betrayal of Wychavon’s renters.
Families in Wychavon need the protection they were promised – yet Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives seem too weak to stand up to the vested interests blocking reform, which includes many Conservative MPs who are also landlords. That leaves around 77,000 households who privately rent in Wychavon with the threat of having their lives thrown upside down through no-fault of their own, at a time when rental property at affordable rents is alarmingly scarce.
Analysis from Droitwich and Evesham Labour – based on figures published by the Ministry of Justice – reveals there are now 59 local families who have faced proceedings to eject them from their home in the years since the Tories promised to ban the practice in April 2019, part of an ever-growing number across the country of approaching 90,000 households.
No-fault evictions allow landlords to order tenants to leave with a minimum of only two months’ warning, without having to prove that the tenant is in any way at fault. The figures quoted are based on the number of no-fault eviction letters that have been followed up with a possession claim in the courts. The true scale of the problem could be far worse, as not all Section 21 notices will necessarily reach this stage.
Labour has called for real action to support renters, including a Renters’ Charter to provide new certainty for renters, ending ‘no-fault’ evictions and introducing mandatory four-month notice periods for landlords. Which party gets your vote?
Alex Knudsen, Chair of Droitwich and Evesham Labour Party
Source: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics-october-to-december-2023/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics-october-to-december-2023