Housing

sben
sben Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 104 Contributor
in Housing and independent living

A 75-year-old man is being evicted from a flat where he has lived for 16 years.

Peter Chant received a Section 21 notice through the letterbox of his flat in Kemp Town, Brighton in late August. More commonly known as a “no fault eviction”, the notice informed him he would need to vacate the flat by November 30.

He moved to the flat in 2008 after coming to Brighton from Middlesex for a “fresh start” when he retired. He fondly remembered summer holidays as a child spent in Brighton staying at his uncle's hotel.

Three years ago the flat, which is in Chesham Road, was sold to and taken over by a new landlord. Peter alleges the new landlord made him a verbal promise that “I’ll never sell this. As long as you’re fit and well you can stay here”.

He said the flat has become “home”. He has no children, lives alone and has no relatives living nearby.

Peter said: “I feel very let down. I know it wasn’t written down, but it was a promise. I don’t know why he hasn’t spoken to me or given me more time to move – say six months. That’s why I’m fighting now.”


The property, a terraced townhouse, contains three flats, but the tenants of the other two flats are being permitted to stay and only Peter is being evicted.

Peter said he has always been an exemplary tenant and paid his rent on time.

After going to Brighton Housing Trust (BHT) for advice, an adviser wrote to the landlord’s agent at Paul Bott And Co in Kemp Town with an offer to pay £100 more rent each month. The letter also requested more time for Peter to find alternative accommodation. Both requests were denied.

The Renters’ Rights Bill was published on September 11 and will abolish Section 21. Scrapping no fault evictions was one of the commitments in Labour’s manifesto.

Although the date is yet to be confirmed, the Bill will likely become law between April and June 2025.

Peter believes the Bill is “encouraging” many landlords to evict tenants while they still have the power and said several of his friends have also recently been served a Section21.

The landlord did not respond to requests for a comment.

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,458 Championing

    I see you've used the persons full name as well as the street in which they live. You need to be. very careful of the information you give here because it's a public forum. Scope do not allow the use of personal information to protect identities.

    The S21 is not a date in which they need to move out by and the only ones that can evict someone is a court. If they move out by the date in the S21 they will have intentionally made theirself homeless and their local Authority may refuse to help Tham

    I'd advise them to contact shelter for further advice.

    If they haven't got their name down on the social/council housing list then they should also do that.

  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,713 Championing

    This appears to be a copy and paste of a news article from a website called The Argus

  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 8,570 Championing

    So sad my worst fear everything's becoming so bad n

  • sben
    sben Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 104 Contributor

    I wanted to show the problems with housing. Especially for the elderly and people with disabilities.

  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,713 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/942545#Comment_942545

    I understand! It can be helpful to share these scenarios, though it is often best to mention you are getting it from a news article and where and open the floor to discussion about it. Hopefully the new bill in parliament may give people renting more rights, but as the article you posted says that may not change anything until some time in 2025. Until then there will be many people who need help with such no-fault evictions. I always advise checking out Shelter if you are going through something like this, they have some of the best information regarding housing.

Categories