London Apartment Block Residents Face Eviction Orders

Residents of a south-east London apartment building have received orders to vacate their homes, occurring less than three weeks prior to Christmas. Nicole Ka expressed her distress, stating, “I feel lost,” and adding, “I’m trying to make Christmas nice, make things as normal as possible but this isn’t normal. I don’t want court proceedings.” Ms Ka, a single mother, is among 150 tenants at Vive Living in Deptford who have been issued a Section 21 notice. Aitch Group, the owner of the property, stated that residents were requested to vacate their units to allow for refurbishments, clarifying that no one had been instructed to depart before Christmas. Ms Ka’s second-floor apartment is adorned with Christmas decorations, and her three-year-old son has placed his two elves beside the television. She remarked, “My son needs to go to school next year but I don’t know where I’ll be living to do the school admission forms.” Throughout December, all 83 apartments in the Childers Street building received their eviction notices, with each situation presenting unique circumstances. Freya Volk has a deadline of March 1 to vacate. She discovered this information mere hours after finalizing her contract. She recounted, “I went through referencing, signed the paperwork, transferred my deposit and the same day my new flatmate was served an eviction notice.” Volk added, “I’ve lived in London for 10 years, it’s always been hard to find a place, but it’s never been this hard.” A Section 21 notice signifies a landlord’s desire for a tenant to vacate without requiring a stated reason for the eviction. These are occasionally referred to as “no-fault” notices. While a tenant might contest such a notice and remain in their dwelling, this action could incur court expenses. A representative for Aitch Group confirmed that Section 21 notices were issued to residents at the Vive Living development to “facilitate the refurbishment of the building.” They stated, “The tenants have been given two months’ notice, as a minimum, in accordance with their tenancy agreements.” The spokesperson also mentioned that no one had been instructed to vacate before Christmas and that the group had “facilitated” early access to tenant deposits to assist with relocation expenses and finding other housing options in the vicinity. They further commented: “The building has been intensively occupied since it opened over seven years ago. “It is a multi-million-pound refurbishment with works being done internally to apartments, communal areas, and amenities. These works wouldn’t require any planning permission. Aitch Group are currently expecting the works to take six to nine months.” Kate Howe, a resident since February 2021, expressed disagreement with refurbishment being cited as the justification for the evictions. She asserted, “The building was newly refurbished in April 2017, so I don’t believe that this is true. “Collectively we want to stop it, as well as get the situation out publicly as far and wide as we can.” Ms Howe continued, “This is just the beginning. Section 21 is being outlawed for a reason and it’s going to keep happening until that goes into affect,” adding, “A lot of people are going to be in a lot of trouble.” Section 21 notices are slated for prohibition under the government’s forthcoming Renters’ Rights Bill. Data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) indicates a rise in the issuance of Section 21 evictions. The MoJ documented that 8,425 households received these notices between July and September of the current year, marking the highest figure in eight years. In Deptford, tenants impacted by the notices convened in the ground-floor cafe of their building to review their contracts and discuss their rights with council representatives. Paulo, who manages the cafe and is also a tenant, provided coffee and cake to the attendees while he, too, awaited his turn to be called. He expressed his fears, saying, “I’ll lose my home, I’ll lose my business, I’ll lose everything.” He concluded, “This is all we have.” In a corner, Will Cooper, Lewisham Council’s cabinet member for housing, was observed systematically checking names off a handwritten roster before inviting the subsequent tenant to his table. He advised, “Renters need to know their rights.” Cooper voiced concern, stating, “There’s a worry that in the next six months we will see more landlords using Section 21s.” He elaborated on the council’s challenges: “As a council we have 11,000 people on the housing waiting list, we have 3,000 households in temporary accommodation, we are fighting budgets every single year. “This situation only makes that situation worse.” The government has asserted that responsible landlords would not be negatively impacted by the Renter’s Rights Bill. A spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government commented: “The Renters’ Rights Bill will introduce a transformative new tenancy system, including immediately ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions for all existing and new tenants at the same time.” They added, “The Bill ensures landlords have robust grounds for possession where there is good reason to take their property back.” Kamelia Yotava descended from the third floor to the cafe, where she was observed struggling with a printer, attempting to obtain a copy of her contract before her scheduled meeting. She expressed her emotional toll: “Emotionally this is a big stress,” adding, “I’ve started to lose my hair, which I’m ashamed to say. “I always had long healthy hair; it’s now coming out every five minutes, it’s not normal.” Each resident has been assigned a specific departure date, with Ms Yotava’s set for February 21. Although this large-scale eviction will be phased over several months, Ms Yotava noted that relocating, particularly during the Christmas season, would be challenging. She commented, “It’s not humane what they are doing.” Yotava elaborated, “Instead of spending time with family and enjoying the holidays, people need to stress about moving. “There’s not many houses available and now they’re going to put 150 people on the market looking for houses, it’s going to make it even harder.”