'We may be homeless before eviction law comes in'

[dutchman]

Gary Punter said his family was being evicted from their rented home after complaining about repairs that need to be carried out



A family who have been renting their home for the past 14 years say they have been served with a no-fault eviction after making complaints about repairs.

Gary Punter, who lives in Wilsons Lane, Coventry with his partner and stepson, has been served with a section 21 eviction notice, which requires them to leave without giving them a reason and is the subject of a legal hearing on 10 March.

"We've had issues with the property for a number of years, but over time it has just escalated and now we're going to be thrown out," Punter said.

HMF Properties, which owns the property, said the family's eviction was due to "the abusive and demanding nature of the tenants" - a claim Punter denies.

Section 21, or no fault evictions, will become illegal in England as of 1 May, as part of a new set of rental rights being introduced.

At Wilsons Lane, Punter said there were a number of issues in the house, including black mould through lack of ventilation and glass doors that did not meet minimum safety standards.



"We've just been going backwards and forwards through the environment office, the council and MPs," he said.

"Basically there's no ventilation in the dining room. There's two glass doors, they're a dangerous hazard. But it still puts a section 21 notice against us.

"I'm just thinking, when this court thing comes up on March 10th are we going to be actually on the streets?"

In response to HMF Properties' claim the family has been abusive, he said: "There's no antisocial [behaviour] there's no violence, there's no police involved, we've just carried on every day as normal, as a family."

The rental price for the Wilsons Lane property is £730 a month, but similar properties Punter looked at were much more expensive, he said, and the family could not afford to move into them.

"The hard thing for us is we lost our guarantor some years ago and we can't get a reference from the landlord because, obviously, they're not going to give us a glowing reference," he said.

"And the rents are so exorbitant now. We're talking around £950 to a grand. We've exhausted every avenue."

HMF Properties said it would have issued the section 21 notice even if the new law had come into force.

"With regards to the environmental health being called out by the tenants – no major issues were found at the property," it said in a statement.

"I have been a landlord for over 15 years and have good tenant and landlord relationships, with most of my tenants being with me over 10 years, with my goal being to provide good quality homes in the way in which tenants would like to live."