‘A ban of no-fault evictions is a populist answer to the rental problem’

• ROBERT Taylor (End ‘no-fault evictions’, April 6) believes this is the answer to dealing with council leader Georgia Gould’s assertion that “increasing expensiveness“ and lack of security in the private sector is preventing many people from starting a family in Camden, (Official: St Dominic’s Primary School to close after 154 years, March 30).

No-fault evictions are a fudge. In some unscrupulous cases they are used by landlords to profiteer but these instances are rare. More often than not they are used because the court-based eviction process is broken.

Some 70 per cent of landlords use no-fault evictions as a result of rent arrears. Often when there are arrears there are other issues such as anti-social behaviour (28 per cent of no-fault evictions).

Some 50 per cent of landlords have evicted anti-socially behaved tenants; 84 per cent state they have had no help from the local authority or the police and 75 per cent claim the police have declined to assist (treating the matter as civil rather than criminal).

The Renters Reform Bill scraps assured shorthold tenancies and thereby, at the same time, accelerated possessions. The courts cannot handle existing volumes of eviction case work, let alone the surge that will result from removing this process.

Reassuring words two weeks ago by the PM regarding being able to evict anti-social tenants are pure empty rhetoric. They require police involvement (no capacity or interest); they require more court involvement (huge backlog and evidentially difficult).

This legislation, which will no doubt hit the statute books probably in some enabling form, will give ministers executive and undemocratic powers to provide detail and this is worrying landlords.

Add to this the Finance Act 2015 provision, taxing landlords on sales rather than profits; increasing regulation including local authorities’ extending selective licensing (Camden included); other impacts such as expensive energy performance improvements in aging housing stock; and higher interest charges. This is hardly cosying up!

A ban of no-fault evictions is a populist answer to the rental problem. The only true answer is more dwellings being built, particularly affordable, and that just is not going to happen.

Anything else is tinkering and raises uncertainty at best and reduces supply at worst. What will happen with rental reform as proposed and other factors mentioned here is landlords’ selling up, typically, of family homes more so than small flats.

The best tenants can hope for is other landlords buying such properties, but they will be seen as new lettings. That will result is steep rent rises. Also landlords will take less risk in letting, thus impacting vulnerable tenants.

To be fair to all sides of the debate the situation is a mess but build more dwellings; don’t strangle supply.

ALEX SHINDER, NW3