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OPINION: Local renters face threat of their lives thrown upside down through no-fault evictions
There have been 43 no-fault eviction claims in East Cambridgeshire since April 2019
Conservatives have abandoned their pledge to ban no-fault evictions – leaving East Cambridgeshire’s 6,184 renters without the protection they were promised. It’s now over five years since the Tories promised to scrap Section 21 no-fault evictions. Yet thousands of renters across East Cambridgeshire are still without protection, still vulnerable to eviction at any moment.
This is a staggering betrayal of East Cambridgeshire renters.
Families in East Cambridgeshire need the protection they were promised – yet Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives seem too weak to stand up to the vested interests blocking reform.
That leaves local renters with the threat of having their lives thrown upside down through no-fault evictions.
But Labour has a plan – our Renters’ Charter will give renters the certainty and protection they need.
It’s time to turn the page on years of Conservative failure, it’s time for change, it’s time to vote Labour.”
Analysis from East Cambridgeshire Labour – based on figures published by the Ministry of Justice – reveals there are now 43 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 now approaching 90,000 households.
‘No-fault evictions’, also known as Section 21 notices, allow landlords to order tenants to leave with a minimum of two months’ warning – without having to prove that the tenant is at fault.
The figure is 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.
There are 6,184 households privately renting in East Cambridgeshire – each and every one still vulnerable to no fault evictions more almost five years after the Conservative Government promised to stamp them out.
Labour has called for real action to support renters including a Renters’ Charter, providing new certainty for renters, ending ‘no-fault’ evictions and introducing four-month notice periods for landlords.
LABOUR FACT FILE
There have been 43 no-fault eviction claims in East Cambridgeshire since April 2019
Source: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics
The Conservatives promised to ban no fault evictions in April 2019 – yet almost five years on the practice is still legal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67187411
There are 6,184 private renters in East Cambridgeshire
Source: Counts of dwelling stock by tenure in each local authority, England, 2012 to 2021Census – Office for National Statistics, Live tables of dwelling stock, English Housing Survey – Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Labour’s Renters Charter would provide new help and support for renters
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth McWilliams is Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Ely and East Cambridgeshire
