CAMPAIGNERS fear “no-fault” evictions could continue to rise, fuelling homelessness even as the government prepares to ban the practice amid spiralling rents and interest rates.

In the first three months of this year, 6,820 landlords started eviction proceedings under section 21 — known as “no-fault” evictions as the landlord does not need to provide a reason to evict the tenant.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that no-fault eviction claims rose by 15.8 per cent compared to the first three months of 2022 and were well above pre-pandemic levels, returning to their highest point since 2017.

Meanwhile, rents continue to rise and competition for rental properties remains fierce.

Much of the increase appears to be driven by landlords looking either to sell their property or re-let it to a new tenant at a higher rent price.

Government figures published in May show that 34,300 households were threatened with homelessness in 2022 for this reason.

Not only was that more than half the total number of private tenants threatened with homelessness that year, it was also a 50 per cent increase on the figure for 2019.

Rising interest rates are at least partly to blame for this increase. 

After a long period of record-low interest rates, the Bank of England began to raise rates at the end of 2021 to tackle the emerging inflation problem.

Interest rates are now 18 times higher than they were at the end of 2021, meaning some landlords struggle to cover their buy-to-let mortgages have decided to sell up or find new tenants willing to pay higher rents.

Nathan Emerson, chief executive of property agent body Propertymark, said his members are “absolutely” seeing landlords selling up due to rising interest rates.

Emer Sheehy, a policy manager at Citizens Advice, said that evicting tenants is also a way to cash in on rising rents, especially as pressure on household budgets has made existing tenants more willing to “push back” on rent increases that they would be unable to absorb.

Charities are also concerned about an increase in homelessness as evictions rise, putting huge strain on local authorities whose homelessness services are already stretched.

The number of people living in temporary accommodation has already reached its highest point since 2005, passing 100,000 in December 2022, with the chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis, Matt Downie, describing the system as “on its knees.”