Sunday, October 12, 2025
Labour hypocrisy on no-fault evictions
The paper says that scrapping no-fault evictions “immediately” was one of Labour’s main manifesto pledges before its 2024 election win, but more than a year on, the party’s flagship renters’ rights bill has not been made law:
Local authorities cannot normally carry out no-fault evictions – known officially as section 21 evictions – as they apply to tenancies issued by private landlords.
However, Lambeth council in south London has been able to start eviction proceedings against 63 households because it created an arm’s-length body to manage some of its housing stock.
Five families have already been issued with possession orders via the courts and two of those have had their homes repossessed by bailiffs. Another 24 have left properties voluntarily after receiving a section 21 notice.
Internal council documents seen by the Guardian suggest that council officials have been planning to regain possession of the properties since at least 2023, but the full implementation of the scheme was delayed until after last year’s election.
An internal briefing document from March 2024 read: “Advice received from democratic and legal services [is] that this is a key decision and it is too controversial to take during the pre-election period.”
Plans to evict the tenants were made despite the fact Lambeth council wrote to the Conservative government in 2019, asking it to end no-fault evictions.
The tenancies were overseen by Homes for Lambeth, a group of companies wholly owned by the council. It was established in 2017 as part of an estate regeneration scheme. As part of this initiative, the local authority bought back some properties from residents who had purchased former council houses at a discount as part of the right-to-buy scheme introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1980.
The council then transferred these properties to Homes for Lambeth. This meant they were able to be rented on the private market, despite ultimately being owned by the local authority. At its peak, Homes for Lambeth managed about 200 properties across six estates.
However, Homes for Lambeth is now being disbanded due to concerns over poor performance after an independent review by former senior civil servant Bob Kerslake in 2022. Kerslake recommended that management of the Homes for Lambeth stock be brought back “in house” to improve efficiency.
About 100 of the homes were vacated voluntarily before eviction notices were issued. The council is now using legal measures in an attempt to regain possession of the remaining properties. In internal documents, it said this would help it meet the “most urgent” housing needs in the borough, including accommodating vulnerable families who needed temporary housing after being made homeless.
Some residents tried to challenge the decision in court, but in June a judge ruled that current laws do not prevent councils from setting up companies to issue private tenancies.
Judge them by what they do, not by what they say.
