Revenge eviction

A revenge eviction is a term used in the United Kingdom to describe an eviction process initiated by a landlord where a tenant asks for repairs to be carried out or complains about conditions. Campaign groups such as Shelter have called for revenge evictions to be legislated against.[1]

England and Wales

In England and Wales, an assured shorthold tenancy is the default legal category for residential tenancies. This allows a Section 21 notice eviction, which does not require the landlord to have any reason for evicting tenants after a fixed-term tenancy ends or during a tenancy with no fixed end date.[2] This allows landlords to evict or threaten tenants that complain without needing to give an explanation. The Deregulation Act 2015 introduced some curbs on when a section 21 notice of possession may be served upon a tenant following a complaint of disrepair. [3] However, data collected since then suggests that very few tenants are protected from revenge evictions after making complaints about their housing quality.[4]

A 2015 Citzens Advice study on Section 21 evictions found that tenants evicted using this process were twice as likely to have complained to their landlord, and 6 times as likely to have complained about their landlord to a local authority.[5]

Several groups, including Generation Rent, Shelter, and the Local Government Association,[6] have called on the government to scrap Section 21 for this reason.

References
  1. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/25/shelter-ban-revenge-evictions-rogue-landlords-tenants
  2. "Evicting tenants (England and Wales)". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  3. "Retaliatory Eviction and the Deregulation Act 2015: guidance note". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  4. "Tenants in England not being protected from revenge evictions, study finds". the Guardian. 2019-03-18. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  5. "Touch and go: how to protect private renters from retaliatory eviction in England". www.citizensadvice.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  6. "Councils and Labour add to calls to scrap Section 21 eviction powers". Letting Agent Today. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
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