A private matter
Private tenants: the forgotten victims of the repossessions crisis
“it is important that measures be taken to protect this group of individuals who have paid their rent but have little control over a decision which has a significant impact upon their lives.”Local Government select committee, 2009
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) predicts that 75,000 properties will be repossessed this year. The Government has developed a range of mechanisms to help owner-occupiers stay in their homes but private tenants also risk losing their homes when their landlords are repossessed. Tenants facing this situation currently have little or no protection and not even the right to a standard notice period to find alternative accommodation. With 14 per cent of households in England now living in the private rented sector2 and many thousands of mortgages held by landlords in arrears, this problem is likely to get worse and cannot be ignored.
Shelter, Citizens Advice, Crisis and the Chartered Institute of Housing are calling for changes to give tenants basic protection from eviction when their landlord has defaulted