Housing Solicitors

Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) says that it has seen a 38% rise in the number of rental tenants who seek advice as a result of eviction, despite not being in arrears with their rent.

Sky News reports that CAB dealt with 5,000 cases of eviction in 2013-2014, compared with 3,750 in 2012-2103.

The increase in tenants being evicted is being attributed to escalating rents – plus a shortage of affordable rental accommodation.

CAB says there are more evictions in London and the southeast a result of high prices in both the rental market and residential property sales.

House prices in London have risen by 20.1% in London over the last year – compared with an average rise of around 10% across the rest of the UK.

Roger Harding from Shelter told Sky News:

“Sadly landlords can evict for no reason, even if you've been keeping up with the rent.

“We've found many worrying examples where landlords have evicted people simply because they don't want to have to deal with repair issues and that's something we want to see outlawed.”

Landlords are also thought to be evicting tenants so they can re-let their properties at higher rents.

However, malicious eviction as a result of tenants complaining about disrepair in their rental home is thought to be becoming more common – last year, research by Shelter found that many tenants pay for repairs to their rental homes themselves rather than risk a confrontation with the landlord and face possible eviction.

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of housing solicitors and can advise rental tenants on a wide range of legal matters, including:

• Disrepair
• Housing benefit
• Housing possession
• Landlord and Tenant disputes
• Local Authority housing
• Unlawful or malicious eviction.

Duncan Lewis is also a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors.

For expert help with housing law, contact Duncan Lewis housing solicitors on 020 7923 4020.