The House of Lords has passed a new law that bans landlords from evicting tenants in what is known as revenge evictions.
The law was included in the Deregulation Bill, which passed in March, and effectively affords protection to those tenants at risk of being evicted for complaining about their property’s poor conditions. Under such circumstances, landlords would previously be able to issue a Section 21 notice to seek possession to evict a tenant after receiving a complaint regarding housing conditions.
The charity Shelter led the campaign for the inclusion of the law after its research found that 200,000 tenants were evicted or faced possession proceedings each year. Furthermore, one in 12 tenants said that they did not make requests to their landlord to improve conditions for fear of being evicted.
Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb commented: “Hundreds of thousands of people will no longer face the appalling choice between living in a home that puts them or their family in danger, or risking eviction if they complain.”
Trade union Unison also welcomed the news, calling it a “huge step” in favour of the protection of renters over the control of landlords. However, they said that there was still more that could be done. Unison assistant policy officer Sylvia Jones explained that this includes “a national register of landlords, licensing, regulatory standards and more secure tenancy agreements to make renting more affordable, secure, stable and decent across the nation”.