A leading landlord blogger has slammed Shelter for claiming in its latest press release that landlords are ‘cashing in’ on higher rents by using Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions to repossess their properties.
The comments are from The Secret Landlord who has used her Twitter account to point that more and more landlords are using Section 21 notices because they want to sell up as the Government’s extra taxation bears down on their incomes.
Shelter’s claims are based on Ministry of Justice data, which shows that the number of households living in privately rented homes in England who were evicted by bailiffs as a result of Section 21 proceedings has increased by 143% in a year from 792 households between Oct and Dec 2021 and 1,924 between Oct and Dec 2022.
Desperate
Why this has happened is open to interpretation but Shelter’s CEO Polly Neate (pictured) says: “Every day we hear from desperate families who’ve been served with no-fault eviction notices for daring to complain about poor conditions, or because their landlord wants to cash in on rising rents.
“No one wants to be forced out of their home, but these court figures show that’s happening to more and more private renters in this country.
“The chronic lack of social homes means the demand for overpriced and unstable private rentals has ballooned, and more people are being pitted against each other in the hunt for a home.”
But the Secret Landlord points out that a “Section 21 notice is the only tool available to a landlord to sell a property.
“Shelter has accused landlords of cashing in on rental rises and repairs, not the fact that landlords are exiting the market in droves.”
Warning
Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action (pictured) says: “I have been warning the Government for some time that banning Section 21 evictions without reassuring landlords they will have a safe route to repossess a property should they need to sell it, or when tenants stop paying the rent, will result in a surge in ‘no fault’ notice evictions.
“This now appears to be happening.”
Last month Shelter said some landlords are rejecting tenants based on race.
