Generation Rent claims tenants in England face an average cost of £2,216 for “unwanted house moves following eviction” – and landlords should pay at least some of that in what the group calls “compensation”.
Generation Rent comes up with the figure by adding up an average deposit, notional overlapping rent on tenancies, cleaning and removals. It says these costs “can push renters into poverty, homelessness or debt.”
As part of an exercise with the Renters Reform Coalition – a group of other tenant bodies effectively led by Generation Rent – the activists says forcing landlords to forego the final two months rent in a tenancy “would mitigate these harms, reduce the number of evictions that result in homelessness, and discourage landlords from trying to abuse the new eviction grounds as a ‘backdoor’ section 21.”
The average rent in England is £1,327, meaning two month’s compensation would be well over £2,500.
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, says: “£2,216 is an astonishing amount of money to have to stump up for a move you didn’t choose to make. Along with the inconvenience of being uprooted and having to find a new home, you can play by the rules but still rack up thousands of pounds of debt when the landlord decides to kick you out.
“The cost of renting crisis continues to cut deep and these enormous moving costs can be the difference between renters finding a new home or finding themselves out on the streets. The government must use the opportunity of the Renters’ Rights Bill to compensate evicted renters by making landlords waive the last two months’ rent, so we have the breathing space to make the savings we need to keep a roof over our heads.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today