A COUPLE say they are being forced out of their home with their three kids as their landlord is refusing to make repairs.
Claire Wanless, 29, and her partner Gary Dormer, 44, say their three-bed Liverpool home is riddled with damp and mould – with even the remains of a cannabis farm in the loft.
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The pair fork out £600 a month to rent the house but in November say they were handed an eviction notice after complaining about the state of the property.
Mum-of-three Claire told the Mirror: “First thing I noticed was the kitchen sink leaking.
“There is black mould on the back. When you wash the dishes, it stinks.
“Then the loft was all covered in plastic bags, with heaps of soil.
“Police confirmed it had been a cannabis farm. Most of it is still up there to this day.”
Instead of making necessary repairs, Claire and Gary say their landlord is using a loophole to evict them.
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“One light in my daughter’s bedroom doesn’t work so we’ve been told just not to touch it,” Claire added.
“We reported it through the proper channels but after seven months of very little to no repairs, I’d had enough, so I consulted a solicitor.
“That’s when I found out about no-fault evictions. The landlady is within her rights to kick us out.
“We don’t have any family who can take us in, so we’ll have nowhere to go.”
Claire and Gary say they are fighting the eviction notice and have even offered to do some repairs themselves – but are worried bailiffs could turn up on their doorstep.
It comes as rules for renters are set to change – including no more no-fault evictions.
The changes were this month revealed in the government’s Levelling Up White Paper, and include new rules that affect Brits living in private rented housing.
White Papers are policy documents that set out what the Government intends to write into law, and open up the plans to scrutiny from other MPs.
It doesn’t necessarily mean it will be made into law this year as there are multiple stages of debate it will have to go through first.
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But it does mean we’re one step closer to rolling out more rights for renters.
From a crackdown on rogue landlords to making sure families are living in better quality homes, the rule changes aim to better protect millions of renters.
Families will be given more protection to stay in their home after a rule which lets landlords kick out their tenants – even if they’ve done nothing wrong – has been scrapped.
The Section 21 “no-fault evictions” rule means your landlord doesn’t need a reason to turf you out of their house.
But that law has now been ripped up, “ending the unfair situation where renters can be kicked out of their homes for no reason”, it was announced earlier this week.
It should give tenants more confidence that their home is theirs for the long-term, and should allow them to raise complaints if something goes wrong without fear of being kicked out of their house.
The government has been consulting on axing the controversial rule since as early as 2019.
