, Shadow Homelessness &
Rough Sleeping Minister, responding to new government
figures showing Section 21 evictions have risen 116% in a year,
said:
“These figures are a damning indictment of the government’s
failure to tackle homelessness, which is having devastating
consequences for thousands of families and children.
“It is welcome that long overdue plans to abolish ‘no fault’
evictions have finally been published but since the government
first made this promise over four years ago, more than 60,000
households have been threatened with eviction, so it’s far from
clear that they can deliver.
“Labour wants to see Section 21 scrapped immediately, and we have
set out plans to build more affordable homes and empower councils
to build more social homes, end automatic evictions for rent
arrears and increase notice periods for landlords.”
Ends
Notes
- 2,252 Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions took place between
January and March this year – a rise of 17% on the previous
quarter and up 116% on the same period last year.
- 6,820 households were threatened with a Section 21 eviction
between January and March – up 12% on the previous quarter and up
16% on the same period last year.
- There have been 60,841 Section 21 claims by landlords since
April 2019 (2019 Q2), when the government first promised to
ban such evictions.
- This represents an average of 1,268 per month – or 42 per day
– between then and the end of March 2023, when the latest figures
end.
- There have been 19,106 actual repossessions since April 2019
(2019 Q2). This represents an average of 398 per month – or 13
per day.
|
Year
|
Quarter
|
Claims under Section
21
|
Repossessions by county court bailiffs under
Section 21
|
|
2019
|
Q1
|
4,714
|
2,297
|
|
2019
|
Q2
|
4,850
|
2,009
|
|
2019
|
Q3
|
4,591
|
1,946
|
|
2019
|
Q4
|
4,164
|
1,852
|
|
2020
|
Q1
|
4,169
|
1,672
|
|
2020
|
Q2
|
860
|
0
|
|
2020
|
Q3
|
1,319
|
0
|
|
2020
|
Q4
|
2,392
|
157
|
|
2021
|
Q1
|
954
|
30
|
|
2021
|
Q2
|
1,456
|
363
|
|
2021
|
Q3
|
2,037
|
1,694
|
|
2021
|
Q4
|
3,607
|
792
|
|
2022
|
Q1
|
5,889
|
1,045
|
|
2022
|
Q2
|
5,540
|
1,578
|
|
2022
|
Q3
|
6,092
|
1,792
|
|
2022
|
Q4
|
6,101
|
1,924
|
|
2023
|
Q1
|
6,820
|
2,252
|
Source: Ministry of Justice, Mortgage and Landlord
Possession statistics: January to March 2023, published 18
May 2023
