‘Longer than Brexit’: Renters criticise 5-year wait for ban on no-fault evictions

Published

1 year ago

April 15, 2024

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The government has been accused of “betraying renters” on the fifth anniversary of a “failed” promise to ban no-fault evictions – as figures suggest that over 80,000 households have been put at risk of homelessness since then.

Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May made the pledge to scrap Section 21 (S21) notices on 15 April 2019 and it was also in her successor Boris Johnson’s manifesto.

But last month, the government announced an indefinite delay to the plan to ban them, pending court reforms.

A Section 21 order allows landlords to evict tenants with just two months’ notice, without providing a reason for doing so.

Housing campaigners say they are a major contributing factor to rising homelessness.

Analysis of government data by the Renters’ Reform Coalition (RRC) has found that since the promise to ban S21s was made, at least 84,460 private renting households have claimed homeless prevention support after being issued with the notice.

Campaigners believe the true number of “no-fault” evictions served will be much higher, as the data only captures those who claimed council support.

Tom Darling, campaign manager at the RRC, said: “It is absurd that the government has now officially taken five years to deliver these basic reforms – that’s longer than Brexit took.”

He said S21s “have led to real human suffering and damage” and there could be “millions of other renters who have been evicted but haven’t ended up calling their local authority”.

‘Revenge eviction’

Tom Cliffe, 34 was issued with a Section 21 last July after complaining for 18 months about disrepair to his property in Ealing, west London, where he was paying £1,000 a month in rent and bills.

He believes it was a “revenge eviction” as his four other housemates were not served the notice – and he was not given a reason as to why he received one.

Tom, who works in the film industry, spent months and “upwards of £2,000” trying to fight the eviction, but has given up as “everything was weighted in the landlord’s favour”.

“It’s been a huge, huge turmoil,” he told Sky News.

“I have made a home here for six years. I have taken so much care to treat the property well, I have always paid my rent on time.

“To be turfed out by your landlord on a whim when you’re in your 30s and it’s so hard to buy, it’s really upsetting.”

Tom now faces paying up to 50% more in rent in the new property he is due to move into – amid a renting crisis that has seen average rents soar by 9%.

“It all just feels a bit corrupt. The fact that so many MPs are landlords, it seems fairly obvious that this is influencing the [S21] delays,” Tom said.

Gove ‘sold renters down the river’

Housing Secretary Michael Gove pledged to ban S21s through the long-delayed Renters Reform Bill, which was introduced to parliament in May and seen as a “once-in-a-generation” shakeup of renters’ rights.

But last month he was accused of “selling renters down the river” and conceding to the landlord lobby after it was announced that the power to issue them would remain in place until an assessment had been made to see if courts could handle the change.

Some MPs had warned getting rid of no-fault evictions will increase pressure on the courts, as landlords will need to go through a legal process to regain possession of their properties when they have legitimate grounds to do so.

Other changes to the bill included an amendment to prevent tenants ending contracts in a tenancy’s first six months. Originally the bill proposed allowing renters to end a tenancy with two months’ notice at any point.

Campaigners have warned this will trap renters in unsafe and falsely advertised tenancies, benefitting “rogue landlords” – as well as risking harm to victims of domestic violence.

The RRC wants to see the bill strengthened to include an increase in eviction notice periods from two to four months, to give renters enough time to find a suitable place to live.

They also want a protected period of at least two years during which renters cannot be evicted under the new no-fault grounds and a limit on rent increases within a tenancy, to stop landlords using rent hikes as a de-facto no-fault eviction.

‘Utter betrayal’

Labour accused the government of an “utter betrayal of renters across Britain”.

Shadow housing secretary and deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Hundreds of thousands of people have been put at risk of homelessness since that hollow promise five years ago. There are kids now in school that weren’t even born when the Tories first promised this.

“Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives always choose party before country, it is in their DNA. Only Labour will immediately ban no-fault evictions, no ifs no buts.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities spokesperson said: “We are committed to delivering our landmark Renters (Reform) Bill that will provide a fairer private rented sector for both tenants and landlords.

“The bill will abolish section 21 evictions – giving people more security in their homes and empowering them to challenge poor practices.”

Business

UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

Published

15 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

The UK economy unexpectedly shrank in May, even after the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs were paused, official figures showed.

A standard measure of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), contracted 0.1% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Rather than a fall being anticipated, growth of 0.1% was forecast by economists polled by Reuters as big falls in production and construction were seen.

It followed a 0.3% contraction in April, when Mr Trump announced his country-specific tariffs and sparked a global trade war.

A 90-day pause on these import taxes, which has been extended, allowed more normality to resume.

This was borne out by other figures released by the ONS on Friday.

Exports to the United States rose £300m but “remained relatively low” following a “substantial decrease” in April, the data said.

Overall, there was a “large rise in goods imports and a fall in goods exports”.

A ‘disappointing’ but mixed picture

It’s “disappointing” news, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. She and the government as a whole have repeatedly said growing the economy was their number one priority.

“I am determined to kickstart economic growth and deliver on that promise”, she added.

But the picture was not all bad.

Growth recorded in March was revised upwards, further indicating that companies invested to prepare for tariffs. Rather than GDP of 0.2%, the ONS said on Friday the figure was actually 0.4%.

It showed businesses moved forward activity to be ready for the extra taxes. Businesses were hit with higher employer national insurance contributions in April.

The expansion in March means the economy still grew when the three months are looked at together.

While an interest rate cut in August had already been expected, investors upped their bets of a 0.25 percentage point fall in the Bank of England’s base interest rate.

Such a cut would bring down the rate to 4% and make borrowing cheaper.

Analysts from economic research firm Pantheon Macro said the data was not as bad as it looked.

“The size of the manufacturing drop looks erratic to us and should partly unwind… There are signs that GDP growth can rebound in June”, said Pantheon’s chief UK economist, Rob Wood.

Why did the economy shrink?

The drops in manufacturing came mostly due to slowed car-making, less oil and gas extraction and the pharmaceutical industry.

The fall was not larger because the services industry – the largest part of the economy – expanded, with law firms and computer programmers having a good month.

It made up for a “very weak” month for retailers, the ONS said.

Business

UK economy remains fragile – and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

Published

15 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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UK economy remains fragile - and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

Monthly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures are volatile and, on their own, don’t tell us much.

However, the picture emerging a year since the election of the Labour government is not hugely comforting.

This is a government that promised to turbocharge economic growth, the key to improving livelihoods and the public finances. Instead, the economy is mainly flatlining.

Output shrank in May by 0.1%. That followed a 0.3% drop in April.

Ministers were celebrating a few months ago as data showed the economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter.

Hangover from artificial growth

However, the subsequent data has shown us that much of that growth was artificial, with businesses racing to get orders out of the door to beat the possible introduction of tariffs. Property transactions were also brought forward to beat stamp duty changes.

In April, we experienced the hangover as orders and industrial output dropped. Services also struggled as demand for legal and conveyancing services dropped after the stamp duty changes.

Many of those distortions have now been smoothed out, but the manufacturing sector still struggled in May.

Signs of recovery

Manufacturing output fell by 1% in May, but more up-to-date data suggests the sector is recovering.

“We expect both cars and pharma output to improve as the UK-US trade deal comes into force and the volatility unwinds,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

Meanwhile, the services sector eked out growth of 0.1%.

A 2.7% month-to-month fall in retail sales suppressed growth in the sector, but that should improve with hot weather likely to boost demand at restaurants and pubs.

Struggles ahead

It is unlikely, however, to massively shift the dial for the economy, the kind of shift the Labour government has promised and needs in order to give it some breathing room against its fiscal rules.

The economy remains fragile, and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner.

Concerns that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is considering tax hikes could weigh on consumer confidence, at a time when businesses are already scaling back hiring because of national insurance tax hikes.

Inflation is also expected to climb in the second half of the year, further weighing on consumers and businesses.

Business

Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

Published

21 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

The government is speeding up its adoption of AI to try and encourage economic growth – with backing from Facebook parent Meta.

It will today announce a $1m (£740,000) scheme to hire up to 10 AI “experts” to help with the adoption of the technology.

Sir Keir Starmer has spoken repeatedly about wanting to use the developing technology as part of his “plan for change” to improve the UK – with claims it could produce tens of billions in savings and efficiencies.

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The government is hoping the new hires could help with problems like translating classified documents en masse, speeding up planning applications or help with emergency responses when power or internet outages occur.

The funding for the roles is coming from Meta, through the Alan Turing Institute. Adverts will go live next week, with the new fellowships expected to start at the beginning of 2026.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This fellowship is the best of AI in action – open, practical, and built for public good. It’s about delivery, not just ideas – creating real tools that help government work better for people.”

He added: “The fellowship will help scale that kind of impact across government, and develop sovereign capabilities where the UK must lead, like national security and critical infrastructure.”

The projects will all be based on open source models, meaning there will be a minimal cost for the government when it comes to licensing.

Meta describes its own AI model, Llama, as open source, although there are questions around whether it truly qualifies for that title due to parts of its code base not being published.

The owner of Facebook has also sponsored several studies into the benefits of government adopting more open source AI tools.

Mr Kyle’s Department for Science and Technology has been working on its mission to increase the uptake of AI within government, including through the artificial intelligence “incubator”, under which these fellowships will fall.

The secretary of state has pointed to the success of Caddy – a tool that helps call centre workers search for answers in official documents faster – and its expanding use across government as an example of an AI success story.

He said the tool, developed with Citizens Advice, shows how AI can “boost productivity, improve decision-making, and support frontline staff”. A trial suggested it could cut waiting times for calls in half.

My Kyle also recently announced a deal with Google to provide tech support to government and assist with modernisation of data.

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Joel Kaplan, the chief global affairs officer from Meta, said: “Open-source AI models are helping researchers and developers make major scientific and medical breakthroughs, and they have the potential to transform the delivery of public services too.

“This partnership with ATI will help the government access some of the brightest minds and the technology they need to solve big challenges – and to do it openly and in the public interest.”

Jean Innes, the head of the Alan Turing Institute, said: “These fellowships will offer an innovative way to match AI experts with the real world challenges our public services are facing.”