Cleverly Evicted: Housing Act's Impact

0:00On April 24, Sir James Cleverley, the shadow-housing secretary, just got served eviction notice from his rental and brain-tree Essex. His landlord's selling the place before Labor's Renters Rights Act hits on May 1st, dodging the new rules that protect tenants big time. The act, passed back in October, kills off no fault evictions for good. Now landlord's got to prove their case in court to boo anyone out. Give four months notice if selling double the old two months and face weights of about 27 weeks for possession orders. Cleverley's calling it a disaster, repeating thousands of times nationwide. He says good landlords like his are bailing on the market, leaving renters with slimmer picks and steeper prices. It's hitting the folks Labor swore to help, he argues. Renters group, Acorn seeing the fallout too. No fault evictions jump from one in five member reports in October to nearly one in three by January. Landlords are rushing to clear houses before the law locks in. Labor insists they're fixing a broken system, shielding tenants from surprise cakes to the curb.

1:04With Cleverley himself a former landlord now eyeing a London mayor bid, this housing mess is front and center in the political beat.