There were 276 repossessions by county court bailiffs following a Section 21 notice in the borough in the year to June reports Sonja Tutty, Data Reporter

An aerial view of rows of terraced housing — Across England and Wales, 11,555 no fault evictions took place over the past year – up 6% on the year before. (Credit – Radar)

There were hundreds of no-fault evictions by county court bailiffs in Barnet during the first 12 months of Labour in government, new figures show.

The party has pledged to end no-fault evictions under its Renters’ Rights Bill, which is in the final stages of going through Parliament.

Shelter branded it “unconscionable” that renters “continue to be marched out of their homes by bailiffs” a year after Labour came to power.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice showed there were 276 repossessions by county court bailiffs following a Section 21 notice – known as a no-fault eviction – in the year to June.

Across England and Wales, 11,555 of these repossessions took place over the past year – up 6% on the year before.

The data also showed 31,264 accelerated claims were made in the recent year, where landlords apply to court for possession orders to remove tenants who have not left by the date specified in a Section 21 notice.

It included 595 claims in Barnet.

Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: “It is unconscionable that more than a year after the Government came to power, thousands of renters continue to be marched out of their homes by bailiffs because of an unfair policy that the Government said would be scrapped immediately.

“For far too long, tenants’ lives have been thrown into turmoil by the rank injustice of no-fault evictions.

“At the whim of private landlords, thousands of tenants are being left with just two months to find a new home, plunging them into a ruthless rental market and leaving many exposed to the riptide of homelessness.”

She added the Renters’ Rights Bill will “overhaul a broken system”, and called on the Government to pass the bill and announce an implementation date when Section 21 will be scrapped.

The charity described no-fault evictions as one of the leading causes of homelessness, giving landlords the power to evict tenants without any reason given.

Its analysis of the latest figures suggested some 950 households could be removed from their homes by bailiffs for every month a ban on no-fault evictions is delayed.

Homelessness charity Crisis warned many are at risk of homelessness if faced with eviction.

The charity’s chief executive, Matt Downie, said: “We know the UK Government has had a packed agenda, but we now need ministers to rebuff efforts to weaken the Renters’ Rights Bill and get this new legislation onto the statute book as soon as possible when Parliament returns.”

He added: “Unfreezing housing benefit in the autumn would also ensure that more people in England can afford a safe and stable home.”

The statistics comes a week after Rushanara Ali resigned her role as homelessness minister following a report that she gave tenants at a property she owned in east London four months’ notice to leave before relisting the property with a £700 rent increase within weeks.

Ali’s house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to the i newspaper.

Such a move would likely be prohibited under the Renters’ Rights Bill, which is set to introduce new protections for tenants including banning landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property from relisting it for rent for six months.

In her resignation letter Ali insisted she had “at all times” followed “all legal requirements” and taken her responsibilities “seriously”, but added that continuing in her role would be “a distraction from the ambitious work of the Government”.

Commenting on the figures, a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “No one should live in fear of a Section 21 eviction and these new figures show exactly why we will abolish them through our Renters’ Rights Bill, which is a manifesto commitment and legislative priority for this government.

“We’re determined to level the playing field by providing tenants with greater security, rights and protections in their homes and our landmark reforms will be implemented swiftly after the Bill becomes law.”

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