From Friday 1 May 2026, no‑fault evictions are finally banned in England. The end of Section 21 marks a hard‑won victory for renters after years of campaigning, organising, and living under the constant threat of being forced from our homes without explanation. This change did not happen by accident — it happened because tenants, housing activists and communities refused to accept a system stacked against them.
Unlike the previous Conservative Government, Labour has honoured its promise and abolished a practice that fuelled insecurity, homelessness and fear. For the 83,205 people living in privately rented homes in the London Borough of Lewisham — myself included — this is not just a policy announcement. It is a line drawn against a culture that treated housing as a commodity first and a human need second. It is a declaration that renters deserve stability, dignity and the right to put down roots without fear.
Unfortunately, I have firsthand experience of the hardship and disruption caused by no‑fault evictions.
In December 2024, just weeks before Christmas, more than 150 tenants at the Vive Living apartment block in Deptford — myself included — were issued eviction notices. The justification was blunt: the owner, the Aitch Group, wanted to refurbish the building and repackage our homes as more lucrative student accommodation.
Throughout this ordeal, our local Labour councillors stepped up and stood with tenants. Will Cooper, Lewisham’s Cabinet Member for Better Homes, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, alongside Stephen Penfold, Chair of the Lewisham Housing Committee, and Rosie Parry, Cabinet Advisor for the Private Rented Sector, made themselves visible and accessible when it mattered most.
They held regular council surgeries and engagement meetings with residents facing eviction, ensuring tenants were informed, supported and not left to face powerful corporate landlords alone. Crucially, they challenged the legality of many of these eviction notices, forcing the Aitch Group to withdraw and reissue them. This intervention delayed the process, buying tenants vital time to secure alternative accommodation and demonstrating the difference active, tenant‑focused local representation can make.
In Lewisham, the Labour‑run council requires landlords to be properly licensed before renting out their properties — a vital protection for tenants. When this scheme came into force in July 2024, it emerged that the Aitch Group did not have the required licences in place.
Will, Rosie and Steven helped make us aware of this serious breach and supported tenants in challenging it. As a result, many residents are now pursuing legal action against Vive Living, using the very protections that local Labour leadership had put in place. It is a clear example of how strong regulation, backed by councillors willing to enforce it, can give tenants the tools to fight back.
In Lewisham, 11,000 people are on social housing waiting lists, and 3,000 are in temporary accommodation. These numbers are similar across all 32 London Boroughs, forcing more people in the private rental market. We need a local and central government to regulate the private rental market. Labour has.
In Lewisham, more than 11,000 people are stuck on social housing waiting lists, while around 3,000 are living in temporary accommodation. These pressures are mirrored across all 32 London boroughs, pushing ever more households into an overstretched, expensive and often insecure private rented sector.
That reality makes regulation not optional, but essential. We need local and national governments willing to step in, set clear rules and enforce them in the interests of tenants. Labour has done exactly that — locally through licensing and enforcement, and nationally by abolishing no‑fault evictions — showing that when housing policy puts people before profit, lives are made more secure.
But we cannot be complacent. I have seen how quickly renter protections can be taken away. In New Zealand, my country of birth, no‑fault evictions were banned by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government in 2020 — a landmark win for tenants. That progress was undone almost immediately after a change of government in 2023. In early 2024, the incoming centre‑right government repealed the ban, and renters once again paid the price.
Ending no‑fault evictions in England is a major step forward — but it will only endure if it is actively defended. These protections must be locked in, strengthened, and never allowed to be rolled back.
Labour has already shown what that leadership looks like: locally through strong landlord licensing and enforcement, and nationally through the abolition of Section 21. This is a party that delivers real change for renters, not empty promises.
By voting Labour on 7 May, you can help ensure these hard‑won rights are protected, enforced, and expanded — and that homes remain places of security, not insecurity.
Below are a list of media reports on the Vive Living Evictions:
BBC Radio London – BBC Radio London, Why an entire Deptford apartment block is being evicted
Deptford evictions: Tenants of entire London block face being turfed out of homes | The Standard
Landlord serves eviction notices to 150 tenants weeks before Christmas
Build to Rent landlord Aitch issues mass eviction notice in Deptford – Murky Depths
Below, outgoing Brockley Councillor Stephen Penfold and my fiancé Aimee Smith talk about what you should do if you received a Section 21 notice just before the ban came into force on 1 May:
Nick Kelly 