‘I was kicked out after 17 years’: The tenants left homeless by new renting laws

Lynne Wilson found her life turned upside in February when she received a no-fault eviction notice, telling her to leave the studio flat she had rented for 17 years. “The notice came out of the blue. I was aware of the Renters Rights Act, but what blindsided me was that my landlord left it till the last minute. I had to be out by April,” says Lynne, 50 who works as a nanny. “I thought I was safe – I had lived in that flat for 17 years and was a good tenant who paid my rent on time and caused no problems. It was my home, but that didn’t matter.” When the Renters’ Right Act (RRA) was introduced in May this year, it was supposed to tip the balance in favour of tenants, giving them more rights protections and security. The new law has banned bidding wars and the payment of rent up front, restricted the reasons landlords can use for giving notice, and increased the notice period they must give to tenants. However, the legislation has also had a detrimental effect: it has led to an increase in landlords, faced with the new restrictions, selling up – and serving no-fault evictions before the RRA kicked in. Subsequently, with fewer properties to rent, the properties that are available can cost more. Lynne is still upset about having to leave her home in Ealing, west London. Two weeks after she moved out, the flat was put up for sale. Even though the price been reduced it still hasn’t gone under offer.“I’m well aware that I’m not the only person who’s found themselves in this position,” she says. “I don’t think the Government has properly thought through the effects of how the RRA will affect tenants, but I can also see from the landlords’ point of view why serving a [Section 21 no-fault eviction notice] before May would be a better option. I still reserve my right to be slightly bitter about it.” When Lynne started looking for new properties to rent, she quickly realised her previous monthly rent of £825 (excluding bills) was not going to stretch very far. London studios were now £1,200 to £1,300 a month or £1,500 to £1,600 for the smarter ones. “I upped my budget to £1,000 in the hopes of finding somewhere nicer, even though it would take up half my take-home salary,” she says. “After looking at a few places, I realised quite quickly that most of the studio flats available weren’t going to work for me. My dad was also unwell at the time, so I had a lot going on, and there was a brief period where I felt I couldn’t cope. I was living in chaos.” Lynne realised she would have to flat-share instead and put an advert on SpareRoom, which her live-in landlady saw: “I went to meet her and view the place, which ticked most of my boxes. She was lovely and had two cats, which was a draw for me.” Lynne now rents a double bedroom in a two-bedroom terrace house in Twickenham, south-west London, for £900 a month, with bills included. “I had to downsize hugely, moving from a studio to a bedroom. Most of my furniture and the entirety of the kitchen had to go. I ended up donating to friends and my brother was able to store some of my stuff as well,” she says. She also estimates it cost her £3,000 to move: “My outgoings for March were double my income, as I had to pay double rent and hadn’t had my security deposit back.” While Lynne has settled into her new home and is happy there, the experience was very stressful. Lizzie Hayman found herself having to move out of a home she and her family rented for years, having spent money to do it up Lizzie Hayman, 54, and her husband and children, aged 18 and 21, have also been negatively affected by the RRA. For the last two years, they have been renting a four-bedroom detached property in Ringmer, East Sussex, for £2,350 a month, but found themselves stuck after their landlord served them with a notice before May, because his daughter wanted to move into the property. “The house was part of a family estate, and we were told they would always keep the house in the family and it would always be rented out,” says Lizzie. “[Because of this] we spent money on things – about £5,000 on new carpets and new flooring, and we changed the kitchen sink. We invested in it as thought we would be here for the long term. “We have adverse credit. We lost our house and business in lockdown and have been renting for seven years. We got this house because it just so happened that the agent was a friend of the landlord and said that we would be good tenants even though we would fail the referencing. We were very transparent about our situation.” Lizzie is a writer and works full-time as a warden in the care industry, while her husband is in construction. He had his own business until Covid struck and the drop-off in work saw him declare bankruptcy. Before Covid, the family had a house with a mortgage but are now struggling to find somewhere to rent, a situation made more difficult because the RRA means they can’t offer to pay rent upfront. “I didn’t think about [the RRA] much at the time, and what I read suggested that it would protect tenants. I feel really vulnerable because if I can’t persuade an agent to agree to us, we won’t have a home,” says Lizzie. “It then comes down to a guarantor who needs to certify you for 36 months’ worth of rent – that’s £72,000 for us. We might have to pay someone [a professional guarantor service] to do this and that’s £7,000 upfront that we won’t get back.” This is an expense she feels is unfair and penalises those already struggling. “The RRA really needs looking at. It’s incredibly frustrating. It seems to have made things so tricky. It’s soul-destroying.” Lynne and Lizzie’s stories are not unusual. “It’s not only landlords struggling in the post-Renters’ Rights Act market – too many tenants are as well,” says Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom. “Flatshare supply is down because landlords are leaving the market. Rents are very sensitive to the supply-demand imbalance. Upset that and rents will keep rising. Banning bidding wars and rent in advance are good examples of changes that were supposed to level the playing field but have had unintended consequences.”