'Evictions made us feel hopeless and disconnected' say Norwich tenants

A bill to prevent landlords from evicting tenants at short notice and without giving them a reason is back on the government's agenda.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it was "still committed" to banning such evictions.

The Renters Reform Bill being proposed seeks to ensure landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants with two months notice using a Section 21 no-fault notice.

Housing charity, Shelter, says data from its cost of living tracker showed nearly 350,000 private renting adults in England were served with an eviction notice, evicted or removed from their home between July and August 2022. This included nearly 70,000 families.

The charity, which is supporting new legislation, said there were currently 11 million private renters and a shortage of rental properties.

So what does it mean to be served a Section 21 notice?

Jawad Iqbal, 34, is a businessman living in Norwich.

He runs a city centre cafe and was served a Section 21 notice in April, on a property he shared with his brother in Prince of Wales Road.

They had lived there for almost three years and the Section 21 'no fault' eviction notice was handed to them by their landlord via letting agents Norfolk Property Management and Lettings.

The agency explained he had two months to find another home and said they did not have to give a reason for the eviction notice.

The lettings company told the BBC it served him the notice on behalf of the property owner due to the irregular payment of his rent, something Mr Jawad disputes.

Mike Claxton, director of Norfolk Property Management and Lettings, said: "Once he [Mr Iqbal] had received his Section 21 he was very difficult. He didn't accept it, he was late on the final date of the section 21 and continued to say he would not vacate.

"We said he had to vacate and we would proceed further - [there were] a lot of arguments backwards and forwards and then he said he would move out anyway."

Mr Iqbal said two days after leaving the property, he saw his home re-listed by the same agent.

The rent had gone up from £795 to £1,225 per calendar month - an increase of 54%.

"I couldn't believe that in a country in north-west Europe this could happen," he said.

After speaking with local community union Acorn and a solicitor, Mr Iqbal learned his eviction was legal.

"They can evict you without giving any reason, as long as they follow the right process," said Mr Iqbal.

Trying to find new accommodation at a similar price to the amount he had been paying proved a challenge.

"The rental market moves so fast in Norwich. It's almost like London," he said.

"There should be rules, with rents increasing by inflation or the market rates," he said.

Mr Iqbal, who sees himself as a "tough" person, was nonetheless affected by the "very stressful" experience.

"I don't think this incident broke me, but I know some people who are already living on the margins and with the cost of living crisis it will break them," he said.

Mr Iqbal is in dispute over the return of his deposit, part of which was withheld by the lettings company amid claims of damage and poor cleaning, which has now gone to independent arbitrators for adjudication.

For Liam, 27, who has been threatened with two no-fault eviction notices in succession, the experience has been "a nightmare".

He works in video production but did not want to identify himself, as he was still attempting to get a deposit back from his first landlord, who he described as "aggressive" and "threatening".

"Renting after this experience made me feel very anxious being anywhere, as at any point you can be given two months notice," said Liam, who lives in Norwich.

"It makes it difficult to report issues or problems with the property as you don't want to create too much fuss.

"With the added pressure of requiring references from landlords, even if they are doing something technically illegal, it becomes very difficult to stand up for yourself when you are getting taken advantage of."

He said both of the properties in which he had lived had six month rolling contracts. This meant notices could be served at any point after this period.

Liam was sharing with his partner, a third person and a pet. He made inquiries about 150 properties in Norwich "and got turned down by all of them".

Many places would not allow pets while others deemed their household income as not enough.

"We were being outbid by other people which was encouraged by the agencies," he said.

Many landlords were asking people to provide six or 12 months rent in advance.

Liam was working from home at the time and so could go online to find a home.

He was looking at rental websites every 30 minutes every day of the week.

"Almost all properties were fully booked after being advertised for 20 minutes online," he said.

In the end a friend put them in touch with a private landlord. But about a year after moving in, the landlord said he needed the house back.

"For our second eviction it took us about 10 weeks to find a new property, again this was through a family friend," said Liam.

"We attempted to go through an agency but the whole process was very stressful.

"I first mentioned that this was my second eviction in a row and they laughed and said 'what have you been doing wrong?'.

"This comment really hurt as it was implied that we were bad tenants or had acted in a way to cause these evictions, which is completely untrue.

"I felt a lot of judgement and embarrassed even though our landlords had intentions to sell the properties or rapidly increase the rent."

He said when looking round one place, the landlord told him not to get his hopes up as this was not going to be his "forever home".

Liam, his partner, friend and pet, moved into their third two-bedroom house in October, and are paying £900 a month.

"Again the only reason we found somewhere was through a family friend, which was pure luck," he said.

"It was impossible for us to find somewhere in a short amount of time through an agency.

He said he had tried to see the situation from the points of view of both landlord and tenant. But, like Mr Iqbal, Liam believes changes are needed.

"I would love to see them ban Section 21, but I don't have much hope in that," he said.

"I believe the bare minimum the government should do is extend the notice period of no-fault evictions to six months."

He said a longer notice period would give tenants a reasonable amount of time to find a new home.

"The evictions made us feel hopeless and very disconnected," he said.

"Having these life-changing decisions pushed upon you without any warning, and with so much time pressure made us very ill, not being able to sleep, eat well or feel positive at all for months.

"Unfortunately it becomes about money and removes any empathy for us as people, making you feel like you are just a pay check to them."

In a statement at the end of October, the National Residential Landlords Association said: "Our survey data shows that most [landlords] can envisage operating without Section 21 provided other proposals, such as on court reform and reformed grounds for possession, have their confidence.

"We will work constructively with the new Secretary of State to ensure the final reform package has the confidence of responsible landlords and tenants alike.

"This includes the need for action to tackle anti-social tenants, scrapping plans that would decimate the student housing market, and reforming the courts to ensure legitimate possession cases are dealt with more swiftly."

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