199 Crawley families have faced threat of no-fault evictions since Conservatives promised a ban

New analysis from Crawley Labour reveals the cost of Conservative inaction on ‘no-fault’ evictions as 199 local families have faced proceedings to eject them from their home in the years since the Tories promised to ban the practice in April 2019.

‘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. The figure is based on the number of no-fault eviction letters that have been followed up with a possession claim in the courts. The true scale of the problem could be worse, as not all Section 21 notices will necessarily reach this stage.

There are 8,312 households privately renting in Crawley – each and every one still vulnerable to no fault evictions more than 4 years after Government promises to stamp them out.

Labour has called for real action to support renters including a Renters’ Charter, providing new certainty for renters, ending ‘no-fault’ evictions and introducing four-month notice periods for landlords.

Publishing the analysis, Labour’s Peter Lamb said:

“Crawley families 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 this Conservative Government that four years after they promised to fix the problem, nothing has changed.

“Crawley is under huge financial pressure to provide emergency accommodation to homeless families as a result of rising rents and an ever shrinking supply of affordable housing. A recent Guardian graphic using Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures, shows that Crawley is at number two of the 20 most burdened councils.

“People in Crawley 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.”