Many private tenants are living in poor housing because they fear eviction too much to complain, says a Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) report published today. Evidence shows that some landlords are using a clause in the law to evict tenants in retaliation to requests for repairs or complaints about their accommodation. Government figures indicate that nearly one million private rented homes fail the Government’s decent homes standard and therefore need repair.*

The CAB report, The tenant’s dilemma, highlights the dilemma faced by thousands of tenants - whether to put up with poor housing or exercise their rights to have repairs carried out and risk eviction as a result.

The practice, known as retaliatory eviction, is not recognised in current UK law although other countries have laws against it."

"The report includes a national survey of 129 Environmental Health officers and Tenancy Relations officers. Nearly half said that in their experience, people were often put off using the help they offer because they don’t want to put their tenancy in jeopardy. 98% of those questioned said they agreed that legislative changes concerning Section 21 needed to be made.

Research in the report also shows that in Australia, New Zealand and the majority of US states there are laws designed to prevent retaliatory eviction. In several European countries, the problem does not arise because tenants have greater security of tenure."

 http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ind...s_20070613.htm