Sheffield Liberal Democrats have launched a petition to crack down on so-called ‘revenge evictions’ by private landlords.
Local campaigner Phil Shaddock is backing the campaign. Phil is calling on local people to help by signing the petition.
Some 35,670 households in Sheffield now rent from private landlords – double what it was ten years ago. Across England, nine million people live in private rented housing. One third of the property rented out doesn’t come up to the Government’s standard. Each year tens of thousands of people in England are evicted simply for asking for repairs to be done.
AMAZINGLY THESE ‘REVENGE EVICTIONS’ ARE PERFECTLY LEGAL
“As more and more people rent, rogue landlord’s have greater opportunities to exploit tenants. This means we need to act now to help people whose homes need to be brought up to standard.”
Last week, Liberal Democrat councillors for nearby Graves Park Ian Auckland and Steve Ayris put forward a motion to Sheffield Council calling on councillors to back a private bill in Parliament. Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather’s private members’ bill will target landlords who refuse to maintain properties and try to evict tenants who report poor living conditions. The bill will be discussed in the House of Commons on 28th November.
This will tackle the issue of people forced out of their home simply for asking for vital repairs to be done. Housing charity Shelter is backing the bill. To get this important measure made into law more people need to support the campaign.
Sign the petition here.
See the Lib Dem motion to Sheffield City Council motion here
or to find out more go to http://england.shelter.org.uk.