There are more than half a million tenants who owe their landlords rent. Nearly a quarter of a million fell into arrears during the pandemic. About 175,000 private tenants have already been threatened with being kicked out of their homes. And on Monday, the government is planning to lift its eviction ban.
When you think about it, it’s so completely unfair, it’s sort of unbelievable. Sometimes I wake up in the morning with a lump in my throat at the prospect of an eviction.
I have been working with the council, facilitating parenting courses. But like so many workers – especially people like me who are renters, women and migrants – I have no proper contract, and when the pandemic came my income significantly diminished. There was no question of being furloughed. Our rent was already sky high (we live in London where many renters pay well over half of their income to their landlord) and I’m going through the immigration process so we have no right to housing benefit. In addition, as a family of four, we are required to pay over £8,000 every 30 months to the Home Office.
Like so many people, my husband and I simply cannot afford the rent. Our landlord has threatened to evict us repeatedly, and we have tried to negotiate. He doesn’t want to hear about it. Now that the eviction ban is going to end, he may be seeking a possession order on our home. We just don’t know.
There is a catastrophe unfolding in our communities, and what we worry about most is our children. My daughter did so well in her GCSEs this week; I’m so proud of her. But bits of good news like that cannot compensate for the constant fear and misery caused by the threat of being forced from our home. We try to protect the children from it, but there is only so much you can do.
The government could so easily extend the ban. Now, I won’t pretend this is a solution – this only postpones the problem. In April the housing secretary Robert Jenrick said, “The government is clear – no renter who has lost income due to coronavirus will be forced out of their home, nor will any landlord face unmanageable debts.” But when do we really think renters like me will be able to pay back our arrears? If the government is going to keep its promise, we don’t want an extension to the ban, we need to ban evictions permanently. The government must end “no fault” section 21 evictions – as it committed to both in last year’s Tory election manifesto, and in the Queen’s speech. And we need to cancel rent debt, put in place rent controls to end sky-high rates, and end the system that means migrants like me have no right to access housing and other benefits.
But the government is refusing even a temporary further eviction ban. It only listens to landlords: the people who already own property and wealth and who have the upper hand. They have been given mortgage holidays and stamp duty cuts, they’ve essentially been subsidised by the increase in local housing allowance – and now the government’s helping them out by allowing them to make us homeless. We have to ask: is it because almost one in five MPs is a landlord?
They defend their wealth. So we will defend ourselves, our families and our homes.
We tried, through the London Renters Union, to force my landlord to reduce my rent, and we weren’t successful. But we were unlucky, and many renters have successfully negotiated with their landlords using advice from other tenants and template letters. Of course, we need a system that protects all renters – including those whose landlords lack human decency.
We’ve heard the government might change its mind, but at the London Renters Union we’re preparing for if and when the ban does end. We are sharing advice and skills: how to deal with it if your landlord is threatening you with eviction, and, if the bailiffs do turn up, how to prevent them throwing you out. It can be done – we and other tenants unions have already prevented hundreds of evictions during the pandemic.
And many more people could avoid eviction, if only they knew their rights. My advice to anyone who’s worried about being evicted, or who’s got other problems with their landlord: join your local tenants union. You’ll be amazed by how much help there is on offer – but also by how powerful you’ll feel, and what a relief it is to talk to people who have the same anxieties as you, especially when they might have a solution.
We are not against individual landlords. We are against a system where those who are wealthy enough to buy property can take such a huge chunk of the monthly pay cheque from those who aren’t. Yes, let’s build more social housing. Yes, let’s end the scandal of almost 23,000 long-term empty homes in London. But ultimately we need to change our housing system. After all, if there’s one thing that’s clear from the impending disaster that could begin on Monday, it’s that a home should be a human right.
• Ghazal Haqani is an organiser for the London Renters Union
