Soaring rents push half a million closer to eviction

According to official figures, almost 500,000 people are at risk of losing their homes because of the soaring cost of housing.

Related topics:  Landlords
Warren Lewis
4th December 2014
To Let 3

Some 204,689 possession orders were sent to rented and mortgaged properties in England between October 2013 and September 2014.
 
Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Justice show that 11,100 properties were repossessed by bailiffs between July and September this year, the highest quarterly figure since records began in 2000.
 
Shelter said, based on the average household occupancy, this equated to 1,300 homeowners and tenants a day, or 474,500 a year, facing eviction.
 

Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said: “A wave of welfare changes including the bedroom tax, mixed in with a chronic lack of affordable homes and a hugely insecure private rental market are leaving more and more families teetering on a financial knife-edge.

More than 40,000 households lost that battle to stay in their home in the last year, and right behind them are thousands more but a few steps away from the same fate. The sky-high cost of housing is making it harder and harder for families to keep a roof over their heads. Imagine the panic of receiving a notice through the door saying that you could lose your home – that’s the devastating reality for thousands of people every week.”
 
The charity’s statistical analysis also revealed more than 11,000 tenants had been evicted between July and September – the highest rate on record.
 
Mr Robb added: “Families are struggling to cope with sky-high rents, often forced to cut back on essentials or even skip meals just to keep a roof over their children’s heads.”

While court orders against homeowners fell by almost 20% to 41,860 in the year to September 2014, the number of tenant court orders rose three per cent to 162,829.
 

Advisers with Citizens Advice say they have also seen an increase in requests for help from people who are threatened with eviction by private landlords (up 20%).
 
Gillian Guy, the charity’s chief executive, said: “The imbalance of power in the private rented sector leaves people vulnerable to the whims of landlords. Renters’ rights need to be brought up to a decent 21st century standard.”
 
Housing minister Brandon Lewis said mortgage repossessions have fallen and are “predicted to fall even further” thanks to the government’s work to tackle the deficit.
 
He said: “We’re introducing measures to ensure tenants can be confident they will get a fair deal. Our How to Rent guide helps tenants know their rights and responsibilities, and letting agents are now required to belong to a redress scheme so landlords and tenants have somewhere to go if they get a raw deal. This government has kept strong protections to guard families against the threat of homelessness. We’ve increased spending to prevent homelessness...and ensure we don’t return to the bad old days when homelessness in England was nearly double what it is today.”
 

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