More than 130 families hit with no fault evictions in Northumberland in four years

Dozens of families in Northumberland have faced proceedings to eject them from their homes in the four and a half years since the Government said it would ban no fault evictions.

‘No-fault evictions’, also known as Section 21 notices, allow landlords to order tenants to leave with a minimum of two months’ warning - without having to prove that the tenant is at fault in any way. Analysis by Northumberland Labour found that 133 households have faced section 21 notices since April 2019.

The figures come from the Government's own data, with Labour looking at the number of no-fault eviction letters that were followed up with a possession claim in the courts. The party say the true scale of the problem could be worse, as not all section 21 notices would necessarily reach this stage.

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It comes as figures of no fault eviction claims in England reached a seven year high. Between July and September 2023, landlords in England started 8,399 court proceedings to evict tenants using a section 21 order.

A map showing the number of eviction claims launched in England between July and September revealed that Gateshead had the highest rate of "no fault" eviction claims per 100,000 rented households in the North East, at 56.9. This was followed by Newcastle, with a rate of 55.3 per 100,000 rented households.

The North East area with the lowest rate of eviction claims was Northumberland, with 25.9 per 100,000 rented households

The latest figures show that there are 27,318 households privately renting across Northumberland - and Labour say they all remain vulnerable to no fault evictions. Northumberland Labour leader Coun Scott Dickinson hit out at the Government for failing to deal with the issue.

He said: "Families in Northumberland need protection from having their lives thrown upside down by no-fault evictions. It is a mark of the staggering chaos at the heart of Government under the Conservatives that four years after they promised to fix the problem, nothing has changed.

“The cost of living crisis is suffocating families in Northumberland, and the utter failure of Conservatives to provide competent government is making things harder and harder and harder.

“People in Northumberland need a change – they need a government with a plan to get Britain building again so we can build the homes we need to get out of the housing crisis. They need a government with a plan for a Renters’ Charter to provide certainty for renters. And they need a government with a plan to end 13 years of Tory failure, chaos and confusion. That change can only come with an election and a Labour Government.”

Labour say their promised "renters' charter" would provide "new certainty" for renters, as well as end no fault evictions and introduce four-month notice periods for landlords wishing to evict their tenants.

Last month, the Government said "no fault" evictions would be delayed until the court system was reformed, with Housing Secretary Michael Gove claiming it was "vital" to update the courts first. However, Labour accused the Government of kicking the proposals into the long grass.

Responding to the concerns raised by Northumberland Labour and Coun Dickinson, a spokeswoman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "Our landmark Renters Reform Bill offers better protections for tenants and gives them greater security than ever before to challenge poor conditions in their homes.

"The Bill also abolishes section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and redresses the balance between landlords and tenants.”