What is a retaliatory eviction?

Maybe your home has a leaky roof, or perhaps there’s mould creeping along the walls. You reach out to your landlord, hoping for a quick fix, but instead of arranging repairs they hand you an eviction notice. It’s an unfortunate reality that some tenants in the UK face, despite the housing laws in place to protect them.

Retaliatory eviction happens when a landlord tries to evict a tenant in response to the tenant exercising their legal rights, such as requesting repairs or complaining about the living conditions. It’s a problem exacerbated by the UK’s housing crisis. A quarter of private renters – around two million people – who dealt with issues in their home didn’t report the problems to their landlord out of fear of revenge eviction, according to YouGov figures produced for Shelter last year. Tenants who flagged problems to their landlord or letting agency were 159% more likely to receive an eviction notice than tenants who didn’t.

“Day in day out Shelter hears from people who are forking out huge sums on rent while living in nightmarish conditions because private renting is woefully under-regulated,” said Polly Neate, chief executive for Shelter. “It is a travesty that so many private renters are too afraid to complain about the mould growing all over their kids’ clothes, or the water pouring in through broken window frames, in case it costs them their home.”

When tenants report problems like faulty heating, dangerous wiring or mould growth, they should be able to expect that their landlord will fix the issues – this is outlined in most tenancy agreements. It’s essential to understand your rights to avoid falling victim to retaliatory eviction. 

Can my landlord evict me for asking for repairs?

Your landlord shouldn’t be able to evict you just because you’ve asked for repairs or reported a problem with your home. If you’ve raised a legitimate complaint about the condition of your property, the landlord is legally required to investigate and carry out any necessary repairs to keep the property safe and habitable. 

Unfortunately some landlords see repair requests as a nuisance or an extra expense and may retaliate by serving an eviction notice. This is most commonly done using a Section 21 ‘no-fault’ notice, which allows them to remove tenants without giving a reason as long as they follow the correct process – just one of several reasons experts have long campaigned for no-fault evictions to be scrapped.

Keir Starmer’s Labour government committed to a Section 21 ban in plans for the Renters’ Rights Bill. But ministers need to “make sure this ban is absolutely watertight to give renters the confidence they need to challenge disrepair,” a Citizens Advice spokesperson said.

This must include “deterrents and safeguards to stop any new possession grounds being abused,” they added.

In England, the Deregulation Act 2015 offers some protection against retaliatory eviction. The legislation says that if a tenant makes a legitimate complaint to their landlord about repairs or unsafe conditions, and the local council then serves the landlord with an improvement notice, the landlord can’t serve a Section 21 eviction notice for six months. This is designed to give tenants more security and to stop landlords from evicting tenants just because they’ve asked for their homes to be kept in good repair.

This protection only applies in certain situations – for example, the tenant has to follow the correct procedure for reporting issues, and the council must formally intervene with an improvement or emergency remedial action notice. Tenants are more vulnerable to eviction if the council doesn’t get involved, and the law doesn’t apply to every type of tenancy.

Welsh law offers similar protection to tenants, while in Scotland landlords must give one of 18 reasons for evicting someone. Revenge eviction isn’t one of them, and you can take steps to challenge the decision if you don’t think the eviction notice is valid. 

Is retaliatory eviction legal?

Retaliatory eviction is not legal in the UK, but it happens. While there are laws in place to protect tenants from being evicted for requesting repairs or raising concerns about their living conditions, some landlords still try to sidestep the rules. 

If your complaint leads to the local authority serving an improvement notice, your landlord can’t evict you for six months under Section 21. But the they could still try to evict you by using other legal routes, including through a Section 8 notice which is used when someone has breached the terms of their tenancy agreement (such as by falling behind on rent). 

It’s crucial to remember that retaliatory eviction is illegal because it violates the rights of tenants to live in safe, secure housing. If you believe that your landlord is trying to evict you unfairly as a result of you asking for repairs, you have legal grounds to challenge the eviction. But it’s important to act quickly and contact local experts for guidance – Shelter, Citizens Advice and Advicenow are good places to start. They can help you understand your rights and the best course of action to take.

How to prove retaliatory eviction

Proving that an eviction is retaliatory can be tricky, but it’s possible if you gather evidence. The first thing to do is make sure that you report any problems with your home in writing, and as soon as possible after you notice the issue. This creates a paper trail that can later be used as evidence if your landlord tries to evict you in response to your complaint. Emails or letters are a good way to document your concerns, and you should keep a copy of it all.

Keep records of everything – this includes photos of the disrepair and notes of any conversations you’ve had with your landlord about the issue too. 

When you report issues to your landlord, give them a reasonable amount of time to respond and carry out the necessary repairs. If they then fail to fix the problem you can contact the local council, who might decide to step in if the conditions are unsafe. An improvement notice or emergency works notice would provide strong evidence that you’re facing a retaliatory eviction if the landlord later serves you with a Section 21 notice.

In court, the burden of proof is often on the tenant to demonstrate that the eviction is retaliatory. This can make things challenging but with meticulous record-keeping and support from your local council or a legal adviser, it’s possible to uphold your rights against an unfair eviction.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.