New legislation aims to tackle retaliatory evictions

The Deregulation Act ushers in a number of changes aimed at improving standards in England’s ever expanding rental sector.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis claimed that the new legislation would help to create a “bigger, better and safer” rental market, although some campaign groups maintain that the law doesn’t go far enough.

The most notable change concerns new measures designed to curb the problem of so-called “revenge evictions.”

These are cases when a tenant has made a legitimate complaint about a property, only for the landlord to serve them with an eviction notice to avoid carrying out repairs.

Where a tenant has raised a complaint about the condition of the property, the landlord must respond substantively within 14 days, setting out their proposals for addressing the complaint. If the landlord fails to respond, the tenant can raise the complaint with the local authority which will then be able to serve a notice on the landlord to remedy the defect.

A previous study conducted by the charity Shelter suggested that last year alone as many as 200,000 tenants were evicted as a result of retaliatory action.

There may, however, be challenges in making those renting aware of the greater degree of protection that they are afforded by the new legislation.

The National Landlords Association (NLA) surveyed 1,400 tenants and found that almost nine out of ten were unaware of the changes being introduced by the Deregulation Act.

Our team of lawyers is experienced in dealing with all aspects of Landlord and Tenant law and can advise on the new Right to Rent checks. For more information on how Royds can assist with landlord and tenant disputes, please contact Chris Rodda or Jacinta Conway or visit.