Martin Lewis issues ‘eviction’ warning to anyone with mould in house | Personal Finance | Finance

Money expert Martin Lewis has issued an ‘eviction’ warning to anyone who finds mould or damp in their property.

Those who rent privately from a landlord could find themself on the receiving end of an eviction notice, Martin warned, due to a loophole which allows unscrupulous property owners to simply get rid of tenants who complain about mould instead of fixinf the issue.

This is due to a legal loophole about how local councils take action against landlords after a complaint about mould or damp is made to the local council.

Martin heard from one listener who said: “My son is a private renter, the house is basically falling down around him, it’s full of damp and the walls are cracked. He’s told the landlord multiple times and they say it’s because it’s an old building. What do I do?”

Martin’s expert on rental rights then told him: “Well one thing you can do is go to the council and complain to Environmental Health basically and the council can ultimately issue an improvement notice. Again the problem with this is it takes a long time and you can get evicted while you’re doing it.”

And the issue gets worse for renters due to a loophole which makes it easier for landlords to evict people over mould complaints.

He added: “Once the council has issued an improvement notice you are protected by Section 21, No fault eviction, but they usually give them a window before the improvement notice is issued, where they can make repairs, and it’s in that window where they can issue a Section 21, get you out, and get someone in who they think will be less trouble.”

Martin was then told that once a tenant is evicted, it’s no longer a breach of the legislation because there is no tenant in the property, so it would need a new tenant to make another complaint before the council took action.

Martin added: “So that’s why it is worth the landlord, on a tactical basis, getting rid of them.”