IN March, my landlord of 10 years informed me that he wanted to sell his house and that because I had been a “good” tenant, he would need to serve me with a section 21 so-called “no fault” eviction, giving me just two months to find a new home.

As I have serious disabilities, including spinal cord damage, and rely on a care package to meet my daily needs, I knew finding a home that was both accessible and affordable in the same borough would be extremely difficult.

I started to look at both private properties and those on the council website, but immediately found barriers to getting a new home. The first month passed, leaving just one month left.

A housing adviser from the council was telling me it might be better to become homeless. Due to my physical health needs, the threat of homelessness was something that kept me awake during the night. The stress was affecting my mood and my physical health.

We are still waiting for confirmation that the reforms in the white paper A Fairer Private Rented Sector published in June and later announced in the Queen’s Speech, are to be enacted.

According to the government, these proposals would “abolish section 21 evictions and introduce a simpler and more secure tenancy” where “a tenancy will only end if the tenant ends it, or the landlord has a valid ground for possession.”

The reaction to these proposals was mixed. Although it had been called a “game changer,” organisations such as Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC) which is inundated with desperate clients and is at the sharp end of this housing crisis, still don’t think they give enough protection for tenants.

Meanwhile, the number of these evictions has skyrocketed. GMLC has said that it is seeing a massive spike in the need for legal advice and support for tenants facing eviction.

A spokesperson for the centre said: “Possession claims have started to soar this summer with nearly six times the number of possession orders being made against tenants between April and June as were made in the same period in 2021.”

GMLC also often hears from tenants who face eviction due to rent arrears. With housing benefit being frozen since 2020 combined with energy bill price hikes and a decade of stagnant wages, there is no shortage of such cases,

It is in everyone’s interest that benefits are uprated in line with inflation, with housing benefit restored to a level that means it can make a meaningful contribution toward paying rent — as homelessness is ultimately costly for local authorities. But will this happen under the Rishi Sunak government?

In many areas, it is a difficult task for those who are single to find properties. But when you add in children or those who are carers, those who have children who have disabilities and people, like me, with serious disabilities it can feel impossible.

This is both in the sense of finding a home and being able to foot the cost of moving and paying deposits.

The stark reality is if a tenant has been renting privately and is evicted, it is unlikely, due to the hike in rents, they will be able to get another place in the private rental sector.

That means many must turn to their local council, but with figures from the National Housing Federation showing 3.8 million in need of social housing, this can become an all-consuming, and in far too many cases, ultimately fruitless search.

This was the case for me. During the decade I had lived in my former house, the rents locally had increased far more than what I had been paying. So, when searching for a privately rented property, I was seeing similar-sized properties with rents that were double and even triple what I had been paying.

The main problem, however, was finding anywhere accessible and affordable. It seemed like putting those two “A” words together when searching for a home made it an impossible task. I turned to the council’s system and although they put me at the highest priority, the very few accessible properties were blocked off to me because I was under 55.

As I neared the end of the second month, I had to go back to my landlord to beg for more time. With just a month given to me, it meant in all, I had six weeks to find and move into a new home.

My already fragile mental health deteriorated further due to me desperately searching online day and night for a home. I lost almost two stone in weight during this time, and this contributed to the forming of a pressure sore that I am still dealing with now, some six months later.  

I didn’t want to share what I had been going through, but as the six weeks raced by, I decided to contribute to a BBC article about the devastating impact of section 21 evictions.

In what I could only describe as a miracle, a landlord who had a (potentially) accessible flat coming up for let, got in touch. Within days I was wheeling around a fully accessible flat.  I know that I had been very lucky and that if this hadn't happened, I would've had to become homeless and hope that some form of emergency accommodation could be found.

This new flat fully met my needs, but looking back, I knew I settled for a house, for 10 long years, that wasn't suitable for my level of disability. But I didn’t complain or ask for help in case I was evicted in revenge for making a complaint.

I was not alone. Putting up with increasingly high rents, dodgy agents, and substandard properties, with this constant anxiety of eviction, is becoming a normal part of renting privately.

With one in five households renting in the private sector and millions homeless and in temporary or unsuitable accommodation waiting for social housing, including many people with serious disabilities, it is more than clear there needs to be an overhaul of the rental sector.

The abolition of section 21 should be just a first step in what needs to be a radical programme of reform. Labour must be ready and willing to take this on.

Ruth F Hunt is an author and freelance journalist.