No-fault evictions by bailiffs up 8% in Labour's first year in Government
Shelter branded it 'unconscionable' that renters 'continue to be marched out of their homes by bailiffs' a year after Labour came to power.
There were 11,402 repossessions by county court bailiffs following a Section 21 notice – known as a no-fault eviction – between July last year and June, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice.
This was up 8% from 10,576 for the previous 12-month period.
There were 2,679 in the three months to June, which was down from 2,931 the previous quarter and down from 2,915 for the same April to June period last year.
The latest Government data also showed 30,729 claims had been issued to households under the accelerated procedure in the year to June.
Landlords can apply for an accelerated possession order if the tenants have not left by the date specified in a Section 21 notice.
The current figure was down 4% from 32,103 for the previous 12-month period.
Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: 'It is unconscionable that more than a year after the Government came to power, thousands of renters continue to be marched out of their homes by bailiffs because of an unfair policy that the Government said would be scrapped immediately.
Rushanara Ali resigned last week as homelessness minister (David Woolfall/UK Parliament/PA)
'For far too long, tenants' lives have been thrown into turmoil by the rank injustice of no-fault evictions. At the whim of private landlords, thousands of tenants are being left with just two months to find a new home, plunging them into a ruthless rental market and leaving many exposed to the riptide of homelessness.
'The Renters' Rights Bill will overhaul a broken system and usher in a long-overdue era of stability and security for tenants. To curb record homelessness and ensure renters can live free from the threat of no-fault eviction, the Government must deliver on this commitment, pass the Bill, and name an implementation date when Section 21 will finally be scrapped.'
The new data comes a week after Rushanara Ali resigned her role as homelessness minister following a report that she gave tenants at a property she owned in east London four months' notice to leave before relisting the property with a £700 rent increase within weeks.
Ms Ali's house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to the i newspaper.
Such a move would likely be prohibited under the Renters' Rights Bill, which is set to introduce new protections for tenants including banning landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property from relisting it for rent for six months.
In her resignation letter Ms Ali insisted she had 'at all times' followed 'all legal requirements' and taken her responsibilities 'seriously', but added that continuing in her role would be 'a distraction from the ambitious work of the Government' and therefore was stepping down.
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