Deborah Egan, 70, had no warning her rent was going to double.
She only found out after getting a letter saying her monthly repayments would be going up from £600 a month to £1,200.
Now she’s facing eviction after she refused to agree to the huge increase on the grounds that repairs hadn’t been done to the property.
Deborah and her partner are among the more than 943,000 people who have received Section 21 notices since April 2019.
The notices mean landlords can evict tenants with two months’ notice without providing a reason.
However they are set to be scrapped under the Labour government’s Renters’ Rights Bill – with the ban expected to come into force next summer.
A coalition of leading renters’ groups is now calling on the Government to introduce compensation for evicted tenants in the bill, which will be debated in Parliament next week.
The Renters’ Reform Coalition says an unwanted move costs a typical two-adult tenant household £1,709 on average – so steps should be taken to “level the playing field between landlords and tenants”.
Deborah welcomes the new measures to protect tenants – but told i these initial reforms should be “just the very tip of the iceberg” when it comes to transforming the housing sector.
“It has to be bigger than just rehashing a Tory bill,” she said, referring to the Renters’ Reform Bill initially put forward by the Conservative government in 2022 that never made it over the line.
She said the housing sector has seen a “continual erosion of human rights” for tenants – and her own situation has had a “profound” impact on her.
Being threatened with eviction felt like “being punched out of the blue in the dark”, she said.
She and her partner, both charity workers on low incomes, are now having to look at other places to live.
Deborah said it was written into her tenancy contract that the landlord could request annual rent increases, but she had not expected such a hike.
The landlord said they were basing the increase on the market value – but Deborah said this was not valid because the house was in “severe need of updating, renovation and repair”.
There were no doors inside the house when the couple moved in, the garden was full of rusting metal and dog excrement, a new bathroom and kitchen were needed, and rodents were visible in the garden.
On top of this, Deborah said there didn’t appear to be an in-date energy or gas certificate for the house.
The couple made improvements to the property themselves, including clearing the garden, adding doors and redecorating.
Deborah said she had brought up the repairs to the landlord, but nothing “significant” was done.
“I said I would consider the rent increase if the landlord tended to problems within the house and he sent me a Section 21 eviction notice. It was the classic complaining about your circumstances and getting slammed back with no opportunity for recourse legally.”
After approaching housing charity Shelter for help, Deborah wrote to the landlord offering to pay an increase of £100 per month over a three-month period to give her more time to find another place.
The landlord refused.
Deborah said the stress of it all has exacerbated an existing heart condition she has and also affected her work life as she is finding it more difficult to concentrate.
“It makes people feel like they have no agency or ability to direct their own lives because the roof over your head is taken away from you by people who have got no moral compass,” she said.
“All they’re interested in in the long term is putting more money in their back pocket.”
Jen McLaughlin, from Brixham, Devon, has also felt the “devastating” impact of suddenly losing her home.
The 58-year-old has received two Section 21 notices in the past few years and says the process was “stressful” and “emotionally draining”.
Ms McLaughlin received the first eviction notice in January 2022 after she complained to the council about damp, disrepair and safety issues in the home she shared with her husband and son.
She says the decking outside her home was so unsafe she had an accident that left her needing surgery and with permanent mobility issues.
Although the Section 21 notice was later withdrawn, Ms McLaughlin said their living situation was “made difficult” by the landlord and her son ended up moving out due to the “stress of it”.
Ms McLaughlin and her husband moved to a new property but were later served an eviction notice once again because the landlord decided to sell the property.
The mother said she “easily” spent £1,600 on moving costs – including finding an upfront deposit for her next home, hiring a moving van and getting a postal redirection.
On top of this, her husband is self-employed and needed to take the day off work for the move.
She said that “nothing about the system is fair” and Section 21 notices are “cruel”.
“Somebody’s taking your home from you,” she said.
What is in the Renters’ Rights Bill?
The new legislation put forward by the Government will include a blanket ban on Section 21 “no-fault” eviction notices.
The bill also aims to extend Awaab’s Law, named after a toddler who died following exposure to mould in his family’s social rented home in Greater Manchester.
Under the law, social landlords are required to investigate hazards within 14 days, fix them within a further seven, and make emergency repairs within 24 hours.
Labour is proposing that this be extended to the private sector.
On top of this, there are plans to apply a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time.
Those who fail to address serious hazards will be fined up to £7,000 by local councils and may face prosecution for non-compliance.
A Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman will be introduced to “provide quick and binding resolutions” about complaints.
The bill will also ban mid-tenancy rent hikes, meaning landlords can only raise rent once a year at the market rate.
As well as this, tenants will have more rights to request a pet – and landlords cannot unreasonably refuse, although they can request insurance to cover potential damage.
Landlords will no longer be allowed to impose a blanket ban on tenants receiving benefits or with children, and there will also be a crackdown on bidding wars between potential tenants.
However, campaigners have said the Bill should go further.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “The Renters’ Rights Bill is a watershed moment for England’s 11 million renters. By extending notice periods and ridding the country of the gross injustice of Section 21 evictions, renters will no longer live in fear of being booted out of their homes for no reason, with too little notice.
“This Bill will do far more to protect tenants than previous failed attempts, but renters shouldn’t be forced out by colossal rent hikes once the Government pulls the plug on Section 21. More than 60,000 renters were walloped with extortionate rent hikes that cost them the roof over their head in the past year alone.
“To truly deliver the stability England’s renters need, the Bill must limit in-tenancy rent increases so they’re in line with either inflation or wage growth. It must also protect renters from eviction for two years and stamp out discriminatory practices like demands for huge sums of rent in advance that drive homelessness.”
