News from Murad Qureshi (past staff): No end in sight for section 21 evictions

No end in sight for no fault evictions

The Government still hasn’t confirmed a date for its ban on section 21 evictions. This is despite pledging to outlaw these ‘no-fault’ evictions twenty months ago. This was revealed in a Ministerial response to Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Murad Qureshi AM, after he wrote to the Government, requesting a timetable of when the ban might come into effect.

In October, Mr Qureshi wrote to Secretary of State for Communities, Housing and Local Government, Robert Jenrick. His letter highlighted Government data showing that during the first lockdown, 360 households in the capital were owed a homelessness prevention duty by their local council, after being served with a section 21 eviction notice.

These notices, which allow landlords in the private rented sector to force out tenants without providing a reason, came despite a Government enforced ban on evictions during the pandemic, which has now been extended until March 2021.

The Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Kelly Tolhurst, has now responded to Mr Qureshi confirming that the section 21 evictions ban will be introduced with the passing of the Renters’ Reform Bill. However, she added that the Government would first need to fully respond to its consultation over the ban, which ended in October 2019- after the “urgent concerns of this emergency” have passed.

In his letter to the Secretary of State, Mr Qureshi had also raised the urgent need for the Government to provide City Hall with additional funding to support a renewed ‘Everyone In’ scheme, which provided over 11,000 rough sleepers in the capital with safe hotel accommodation during the first lockdown.

Ms Tolhurst said the Government had provided local authorities with £3.2 million of targeted funding to help those at risk to self-isolate, alongside a separate and wider £1.6 billion fund, of which a portion could be allocated to support homeless people and vulnerable groups.

But last week, the Mayor of London’s rough sleeping team identified a £24 million emergency accommodation funding shortfall from Central Government. The Mayor has now issued a warning that if Ministers fail to step in and offer additional support, hundreds of rough sleepers would be left exposed to both Covid-19 and freezing temperatures over the winter.

Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Murad Qureshi AM, said:

“Shelter is the most basic human need and nobody should be without it. The last thing we want to see is anybody losing their homes, and finding themselves sleeping rough or in unsuitable accommodation. People have enough to deal with when it comes to trying to stay safe during a global pandemic, not to mention the additional toll that pandemic is taking on some people’s capacity to keep a roof over their heads. It’s incredibly frustrating to see the Government continue to drag their heels over putting an end to no fault evictions.

“Using the pandemic as an excuse for inaction is also completely unacceptable, especially when hundreds of households in London were threatened with homelessness due to the issuing of section 21 notices during the first lockdown.

“On top of all this, the Government are short-changing London when it comes to ensuring rough sleepers have access to safe accommodation over the winter.

“For the sake of basic compassion and containing the spread of the new, more infectious strain of the virus, the Government must urgently make up this funding gap and bring forward their plans to outlaw no fault evictions”.

ENDS