Landlords Illegally Evicting Renters Despite Ban, Says Union
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Landlords are throwing renters out of their homes during the coronavirus pandemic despite the ban on evictions, a renters’ union has claimed.
Evictions have been suspended since the beginning of lockdown, and on Friday the government announced it would extend the ban until September 20 in an “11th hour U-turn” that has been welcomed by Labour.
But while landlords have been urged to “show compassion” to renters struggling to pay rent, London Renters Union organiser, Amina, argues it has not been enough. “Compassion doesn’t equal rights for renters,” she told HuffPost UK.
Amina is currently working with three separate renters who were illegally evicted during the pandemic under “really horrible circumstances”, but there are “definitely many, many more” people in similar situations across the country.
One member says she was forced out of her east London home in June – right in the midst of lockdown – after her request to pay rent electronically was denied and her landlord became “really aggressive”.
After trying to forcefully remove her on two occasions, Amina said, the landlord managed to convince the police his tenant was a lodger and as such could be evicted without a possession order. Faced with the threat of arrest, the renter found herself forced onto the streets. To date, her possessions remain in the house.
Amina described another even more shocking case in which a family was violently removed from their home by the landlord and his friends.
“The landlord didn’t want them to be there any more; he just wanted them out so he used physical force to remove them. Understandably, the family is traumatised by this experience.”
She added that people from Black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities were particularly at risk of being taken advantage of. “Black and brown people are going to be hit harder by this crisis,” she...
