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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
George Francis Lee

On the eve of section 21 being abolished, I was served an eviction notice. I was far from alone

To let sign outside house
The government failed to put in any protections for renters during the transition period. Photograph: David Burton/Alamy

You never welcome an email from your landlord, or in my case, my landlord’s agent. I happened to be in an airport waiting for a flight when something landed in my inbox that made my stomach drop. Two words popped out in the subject line: “Section 21”.

Miles from home, staring at my phone, I felt useless and despondent at being served a no-fault eviction notice days before the new Renters’ Right Act made them illegal at the start of May. Once a feature of England’s rental market, section 21s had allowed landlords to force tenants out of their homes with only a minimum of two months’ notice. Presumably not wanting the hassle of having to use a section 8 notice – citing one or more legal grounds to end a tenancy – my landlord evicted me at the 11th hour.

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