Bathroom mushrooms and surprise evictions: UK private renters’ woes go viral

Research revealed how "no-fault evictions" are the number one cause of homelessness in England. Now people are taking to social media with their nightmare stories.

Research published this weekend by housing campaign Generation Rent has revealed how 216 household are evicted with no reason in England every week. 

The shocking stats make “no-fault evictions” the largest cause of homelessness in the country, with at least 11,247 cases being taken up by local councils in 2017.

The campaign supports the call to scrap Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, which allows landlords to evict their tenants at any point without any legal grounds.

According to the latest English Housing Survey, in 63% of cases the landlord wanted to evict their tenants in order to sell the property. But while ‘revenge evictions’ have been made more difficult since the Deregulation Act 2015, there is no system in place to make sure that the landlord does indeed sell the property after evicting its tenants. And since most tenants don’t contest Section 21, all further reasons for eviction are often left unknown.

Generation Rent’s director Dan Wilson Craw commented on the figures saying:

“The ability of landlords to evict tenants without grounds allows them to cash in their assets and leave wider society to pick up the tab in the form of expensive temporary accommodation, and misery for the people affected.

“Councils have new responsibilities to prevent homelessness, and the government has just launched a strategy to end rough sleeping, but they have no chance of success if landlords can continue to kick out tenants with impunity. If the government is serious about preventing homelessness it must abolish Section 21.”

Now renters are sharing their nightmare stories with the world, in the group’s latest #VentYourRent campaign.

Here are some of the most shocking cases:

A flat with “mushrooms in the bathroom”

Bed bugs? No problem, here’s a hoover

That ol’ “don’t keep food in cupboards” rule

Or the “don’t push bed up against wall” one

And always blame the estate agent

Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.

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