2021 is coming to a close and what a year it's been. Before we finish up for the holiday season, we thought we would round up our highlights of the year.

Private renter evictions have been dramatically increasing since the Government ended the last of the Covid protections in June.

Evictions are on their way to hit their pre-pandemic levels and so households and families around the country are once again being forced to move over the Christmas period.

Generation Rent supporter John describes just how terrible an unfair eviction during the Christmas period is.

In October we were given eight weeks notice to leave our family home of eight years. Never have we missed a month's rent. We pride ourselves on being good tenants who keep our home well looked after - but none of that matters. We must be out by Christmas Eve.

I have spent about a decade renting in the private sector. This covered my time as student through to working full time. Sometimes I’ve been tempted to try to work out how much I’ve actually spent on rent during the ten years, but I haven’t dared do it as I’m sure the answer would just be too depressing. For me, renting has meant fighting to get deposits back, pleading with letting agencies or landlords to get basic repairs carried out, having to leave a property a short notice as it was being sold, and being trapped in a cycle of fees and ever increasing rents. My longest period at a property was three years, and the shortest was six months

CW// Sexual Offences

Sex for Rent is a crime whereby an individual offers accommodation at a reduced cost or for free, in exchange for sexual acts. This arrangement can be enacted at the outset of a new tenancy, or enforced during a tenancy, often when tenants experience difficulties in paying the rent.

A 2016 Shelter survey found that 8% of women had been offered a Sex for Rent arrangement at some point in their lives. However, only one person has ever been charged in a Sex for Rent Case, and only as recently as January 2021.

Councils that require landlords to be licensed take more than twice as much enforcement action as those that don’t.

Firstly, this isn’t my real name, I’ve disguised it because we live in a rural area and if I am identified as the source of this story, it will jeopardise our search for a new home as we will be seen as ‘troublemaking’ tenants. That very fact, tells you how nefarious Section 21 is as a piece of legislation.

In April 2019, the government promised to abolish Section 21 "no fault" evictions. Two years later, we're still waiting for Parliament to change the law.

Finding the money for the deposit on a new tenancy can be extremely difficult for many private renters. Not only does this make the cost of moving even more stressful but it also makes it harder for tenants to move out of an unsuitable property and puts tenants who face eviction at risk of homelessness.

But the good news is that the cap on deposits introduced in June 2019 means renters now have an average of £113 more in their pockets.

Generation Rent supporter Emma explains what it's like facing a revenge eviction and the effect of discrimination in the private rental market as a disabled renter.

Moving home is expensive - it's even worse when you have no choice in the matter. Unwanted moves are costing private renters in England £229m per year. 

A sharp rise in properties being let out as holiday homes, has meant that renters around the UK are being priced out of their own local communities, our latest research has found. And renters in Scotland, Wales and the South West of England are the worst hit.