Renting: ‘We were kicked out because we complained’

Mold and a broken toilet were just a few of the problems Chiara and her family have faced in their rental home for the past two years.

But when the teacher complained to her landlord, she said she responded with an error-free eviction notice.

A survey found that tenants in England who complain to landlords are more than twice as likely to be evicted than those who don’t.

It has again called for the abolition of no-fault evictions, known as Section 21 notices.

The Government promised last June to ban the use of Section 21 directives in England, but since then the number of households at risk of homelessness from such communications has risen by 34%.

Shelter, a major housing charity, said ending no-fault evictions is more urgent than ever, especially given that the number of homes available for rent in the UK has fallen by a third in the last 18 months.

Chiara told the BBC that she, her husband Ben and their three-year-old daughter Maggie “lived for two years in a flat in Leyton, London, in a state of disrepair”.

“We had moths in the carpet, the basement flooded, we didn’t have a bathroom, the toilet was broken so we didn’t have a toilet,” she said.

Since mold and moisture were also causing problems, Chiara complained to her landlord about the condition of the apartment.

“They responded with a Section 21 and gave us two months to vacate the property,” she said.

“We were kicked out because we complained.”

Chiara, who is a teacher in Walthamstow, said the family went through a frantic search for a new home after being fired in January and finally moved to a new location two weeks ago.

She said when they searched they found rents had gone up.

Chiara said it was “almost impossible” for her to find another two-bedroom apartment with a garden, so the family have now moved into a one-bedroom apartment.

According to a YouGov survey of just over 2,000 adult private renters in England, commissioned by the charity Shelter, renters who had problems with their property and then complained to their landlord about the deterioration were more than twice as likely to receive an eviction notice than those who who had not done so.

The survey found that 76% of private tenants in England have fallen into disrepair in the last year and a quarter of tenants have not applied for repairs for fear of eviction.

“We just have to get rid of Section 21,” said Polly Neate, Shelter’s chief executive.

She added there needs to be a “situation where landlords can evict people for legitimate reasons and they can’t evict them just because they complain about the poor condition of their home.”

David and Samira from Richmond in North Yorkshire have had similar experiences as Chiara and her family.

The couple were issued a no-guilt eviction just before Christmas after complaining about dampness.

Samira was six months pregnant at the time.

David said the eviction was “really unfair” and caused a lot of stress for the parents-to-be.

“If we look at the options we had as tenants, there was very little we could do. It was just very confusing, really confusing, it doesn’t seem like a fair process,” added David, after being outbid or rejected for more than 30 items they’d viewed.

“Soul destruction is the term I would use for it, it was just rejection after rejection after rejection.”

David and Samira found a new home last week in time for the arrival of their daughter Aila.

The government is expected to introduce a Renters’ Reform Bill before the summer, which will restore balance to the market and provide more security for renters.

Housing rules are different in each of the devolved nations and Scotland and Wales have already banned no-fault evictions.