Luton’s renters face a sharp rise in evictions

Dozens more claims to evict people from their homes in Luton were made this summer than in 2021, figures show, amid a huge increase in repossession activity across England and Wales.

Housing charity Shelter has accused the Government of ignoring an unfolding "crisis" in the rental market, where prices are rising rapidly, after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement revealed little help for private tenants.

Ministry of Justice data shows 163 claims to repossess properties in Luton were lodged by mortgage lenders and landlords between July and September. Of those, 19 were for homes owned by mortgage-holders, while the rest were to evict tenants.

It means there were 57 (54%) more claims in the latest quarter than over the same period in 2021, when 106 were submitted.

And there were more bids to remove people from their homes than in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic – 159 claims were lodged between July and September that year.

The figures also show that in the latest period, tenants were evicted from homes in Luton on 43 occasions – putting them among the 5,400 tenant evictions across England and Wales – while there were two bailiff-enforced home repossessions.

Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive, warned more renters could fall behind on payments and lose their homes without better support.

She said: “There is a housing hole in this budget – housing benefit remains frozen at 2020 levels when private rents have been rising at record rates.

“Increasing Universal Credit will really help people struggling to pay their food and fuel bills, but crucially it doesn’t cover rents which are most people’s biggest outgoing.

"Unless housing benefit is increased, the shortfall with real rents will only grow – swallowing up other benefit increases. The boost to benefits will be built on quicksand."

Ms Neate said a planned increase to the benefit cap is a "glimmer of hope" for vulnerable families, but added: "The Government’s refusal to unfreeze housing benefit ignores the rental crisis that is unfolding, and means that homelessness will continue to rise this winter.”

Mr Hunt said he would "monitor carefully" the situation around mortgage repossessions after Labour former shadow chancellor John McDonnell urged the Chancellor to come back with a "package of measures" to get people through the housing crisis.