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A Liberal Democrat MP is accusing landlords of conducting so-called revenge evictions and re-letting properties where unsanitary and unsafe conditions - such as exposed electrical wiring, severe damp, or serious infestations - are ignored.

Sarah Teather MP, who has made the allegations, is guiding a Private Members' Bill through parliament attempting to introduce protection for tenants against such evictions and to amend the law on notices seeking possession relating to assured short hold tenancies. Next week the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector is staging an enquiry taking oral evidence about the alleged problem.

Now Teather has written a piece in The Guardian to claim that two per cent of renters in the private sector have been victim of revenge evictions, where landlords allegedly throw out their tenants simply because they have requested repair work to be completed.

The problem is worst where the housing crisis is most acute - 14 per cent of families renting in London have been hit with revenge evictions in the last year alone. The figures for black and minority ethnic renters (10 per cent) and families receiving housing benefit (seven per cent) are also shocking she writes.

She also cites a figure from Shelter alleging that one in nine tenants in London are living in fear of a revenge eviction, although Teather concedes this is difficult to measure.

Having spoken to landlords, I know they feel frustrated when their tenants fail to report problems. Many only discover that there is a serious issue at the end of a tenancy, and in the time it takes to fix the problem, they lose out on rental income the MP accepts.

Teather describes her PMB as a small tweak to existing legislation which would prevent landlords from evicting a tenant for no reason within six months of receiving an improvement or hazard awareness notice, and she insists landlords will only be stopped from using section 21 powers following intervention by the council.

Teather claims that under her suggestion, when a complaint is received a local authority will contact the landlord to resolve the problem, only serving a statutory notice if the landlord is clearly at fault and there is a serious issue with the property.

Landlords will still be able to evict tenants who are in rent arrears and exemptions will also apply where a landlord is selling the property. In short, law-abiding landlords will still be able to evict as before, and they will also benefit from tenants who feel more confident to report issues as they arise she says.

Comments

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    I wonder how many years Sarah Teather MP has worked / been involved in the letting industry. Less than me - I bet you fifty quid. When will these idiots stop messing with things they know nothing about I wonder

    • 02 November 2014 07:59 AM
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    There is definitely a lot of ignorance and vote-chasing going on from certain politicians. They would do better to get their own house in order and, as you say, build some proper social housing so the pressure on the PRS isn't so high. This kind of speculative, inflammatory scaremongering helps no-one, and smacks of MPs playing up to the crowd.

    • 29 October 2014 15:58 PM
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    In fairness, there's a difference between a tenant being a pain in the neck and a revenge eviction. Sometimes there are very valid reasons for getting rid of tenants from hell, but in some cases (and these are still very few and far between, gladly) bitter landlords will just move tenants on because they can, or because they've been annoyed by a complaint or request that they feel is unjustified.

    • 29 October 2014 15:55 PM
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    Thank goodness we will be rid of some of these idiots next May

    • 29 October 2014 10:23 AM
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    All the time the landlord owns the property let them do as they please within the law. If my tenant were a pain in the neck I would move them on as well.

    • 29 October 2014 10:00 AM
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    The statistics quoted are utter nonsense.

    Perhaps those criticising the PRS instead of making up fairy tales could build some social housing and leave the PRS to be regulated by the market.

    • 29 October 2014 09:41 AM
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