Rise in ‘no fault’ evictions leading to homelessness, data shows

Data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has shown a big rise in no-fault evictions which can often lead to homelessness.

Currently, landlords can give tenants as little as eight weeks’ notice when asking them to leave the property.

Sometimes no reason is given for this decision and no obvious wrongdoing has been committed on the tenant’s behalf.

While there has been an overall 6% decrease in the number of people judged to be homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, there has also been a rise in rental evictions.

Data found that 5,260 households have experienced a no-fault eviction in the private rented sector, according to government statistics.

This is a 17% increase from the previous quarter and a 168% increase from the same time last year when an evictions pause was in place.

The number of households owed government assistance through homeless duties, due to rent arrears in the private rented sector, also saw a 40% increase since the same period last year.  

Statistics revealed that the ending of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy was the main reason those surveyed were at risk of homelessness, with 11,380 households saying so.

Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link, a charity for UK homelessness organisations, said: ‘The huge rise in evictions from the private rented sector is very worrying, especially as the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis are already being felt in households across the country and will likely lead to a further rise in the coming months. Local authorities and homeless services will do everything they can to prevent or end people’s homelessness, but a huge shortage of affordable accommodation makes this very difficult.

‘Despite the Government committing to ending no fault evictions three years ago, tens of thousands of people a year continue to be evicted through Section 21 notices. The upcoming Renters Reform Bill must urgently address this, giving tenants more security in the turbulent months ahead, while implementing measures to make rents more affordable.

‘At the same time, inflation hit 7% in March, but the Government raised welfare benefits by just 3.1%. Clearly there is an imbalance there, before even taking into account that the welfare system was underfunded to begin with. Raising welfare payments in line with inflation will be critical to helping people not in full-time work to stay afloat.’

Photo by Tom Parsons