In 2022, shortly after Liz Truss’ absurd mini-budget plunged the UK into economic turmoil, I was served a no-fault eviction. The subsequent increase in mortgage rates had forced our generally reasonable landlords to sell the shared house I had lived in for two years. They returned our deposits – by no means a guarantee – and gave us the last month rent-free. I found a new, more expensive place to live, and continued onto my fifth London home in nine years.
None of this was particularly exceptional. No-fault evictions – a way for a landlord to remove you from your home with just two months notice, no matter how long you’ve lived there, without needing to give any justification for doing so – are the everyday reality of England’s broken rental market. I know that because I write about it.
As the political correspondent for openDemocracy, I have covered how successive Conservative governments have failed to ban this form of eviction, despite committing to doing so four years ago. I have written about the constant erosion of social housing in England, despite misleading claims by MPs indicating otherwise. I have reported on the pressure of the landlord lobby in England in private and social housing, and the disproportionate number of MPs who are landlords.
