I lived with the threat of ‘no-fault’ eviction for a decade – never again

The most pressing issue facing young people today is the out-of-control housing rental market – so why have the Conservatives added to it by reneging on their plan to abolish Section 21 evictions, asks Isolde Walters

The Conservatives abandoning the no-fault eviction ban will only add to an overheated rental market (Getty)

The government’s announcement that its promised ban on Section 21 “no-fault” evictions is to be delayed indefinitely did not surprise me. After all, it is all in a day’s work for a Tory administration that has shown time and time again how little interest it has in tackling the most important issue facing young people in this country: an out-of-control rental crisis.

Rents are soaring nationwide and rising at the fastest rate since records began. No-fault evictions – whereby landlords can ask tenants to leave a property without needing a reason – are a leading cause of homelessness, and they are only increasing. The number of households evicted by bailiffs as a result of Section 21 proceedings has more than doubled in the last year, according to figures published by the Ministry of Justice.

And yet, you wouldn’t know it if you were to watch Rishi Sunak’s speech earlier this month at the Conservative Party Conference. The prime minister found time for a joke about Nicola Sturgeon facing prison and a declaration that transgender identities are not valid, but he blithely breezed through his vision for the future running of the country without a single mention of the housing crisis. It left me wondering whether Sunak and I inhabited the same country – or the same reality.