Rupa Huq Calls for a Quicker End to No Fault Evictions

Presses government to follow through on manifesto commitment

Rupa Huq addresses question to Dominic Raab. Picture: BBC

This week in the House of Commons, Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq has pressed the government accelerate plans to end no fault evictions.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 16 November Rupa Huq, the Ealing Central and Acton MP, she asked the Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, standing in for Rishi Sunak who was at the G20 summit in Bali, to move forward with abolishing Section 21, which enables landlords to evict tenants without reason.

She said she was prompted to ask the question after concerns about the issue were raised by her constituents as the rising cost of living starts to bite and more households struggle to pay their rent. The Conservatives committed to abolish Section 21 evictions and a renters reform bill is currently being drafted but Rupa Huq pointed out that the current economic situation meant that the change was more urgently needed.

She told the House, “Does the Deputy Prime Minister’s comeback […] and the new direction of tomorrow signal that the ban on no fault evictions from the last manifesto is all back on after zilch from the last Prime Minister?”

She added that “no family on a whim” should “get left out in the cold this winter” and stressed that “if necessary” emergency powers be used to “get it on the statute book”.

In response to the question, the Deputy Prime Minister replied, “I know my Right Honourable friend the Housing Secretary is looking at all of these matters […] I won’t prejudice what further measures he’s going to come forward with. But I will ask him to write to you to address the specific proposals you’re making”.

Dr. Huq afterwards expressed disappointment that a more specific answer wasn’t given.

Section 21 makes it easier to evict residents that now do not have the financial capability or options available to find another accommodation.

Recently in Acton, a family of five was evicted under Section 21. Two members of the family are disabled, and they are in desperate need of other accommodations but have been rejected due to the fact that they qualify for Housing Benefit.

Another Acton resident expressed her frustration that even though she has been going through channels like the Ealing Council Homelessness hotline she has been denied assistance due to her landlord’s refusal to provide her with a proper eviction notice.

Currently landlords can give any tenant a minimum of two months’ notice to vacate the residence. Recent government figures show that Section 21 evictions increased by 9,000 from the previous financial year bringing the total number of households in England evicted under this rule in 2021/2022 to nearly 20,000.

In June the Government published The White Paper on Renters’ Reform, including plans to abolish ‘no fault’ evictions. In early October, there were mixed messages about whether the Government would go ahead with its proposed ban. It is understood that the current minister with responsibility for housing, Michael Gove, is sympathetic to abolition.

One local resident said, “the recent chaos at the top of government has been unsettling for private renters like me. We are concerned that the government might U-turn on plans to scrap section 21 no fault evictions, abandoning their commitment to renters”.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 93% of adults in Great Britain reported an increase in their cost of living in August-September 2022. An effect of this crisis is that thousands of families are at risk of homelessness or have already been made homeless. The Government’s live tables on homelessness have reported that, the number of households who have approached their local council and were found to be homelessness or threated with homelessness between February and March 2022 (74,230) has increase by 11% (7,600) from the October to December 2021 figure (66,630).

In a session where Mr Raab was under fire from other MPs for bullying accusations against him by former staff, Dr Huq said “I didn’t want to go down the personal route but raise a genuine question that constituents are worried about, a high proportion of whom are renters, in Ealing, Acton and Chiswick. People should never be at their landlord's whim."

After receiving praise from charities working in the sector the MP told us "I remain optimistic that the Conservatives will act on this. It's not about right and left but right and wrong. It was later confirmed in Parliament on Monday that plans to end no fault evictions will go ahead but there is still no concrete date, and I will be pressing for this.”

November 24, 2022