What is supposed to happen?
In theory, section 21 is meant to be used when a landlord needs the tenant to leave through no fault of their own. This might be so the landlord can sell the property or move back in. In reality, landlords are using section 21 as a quick way to evict tenants they no longer want.
Often a section 21 is completely unexpected. You might have asked your landlord to fix some disrepair in the house and are suddenly issued with a section 21 and asked to leave. In theory, local councils should be able to protect tenants from these ‘revenge evictions’. But in reality, section 21s are misused and hard to prevent.
What do we want?
We are calling for an end to section 21, giving tenants better security and allowing them to call a house a home. You can sign our petiton here.
We think it’s fair that if a landlord wants to take back a property, they should have to prove that they are truly moving back in or selling, and not just putting the property back on the market. We’d also like to see landlords paying any displaced tenants relocation costs, to help them move into a new property.
Generation Rent is campaigning for an end to section 21 as part of the End Unfair Evictions coalition. We are proud to work with London Renters Union, ACORN, Tenants Union UK and the New Economics Foundation.
