Who pays the price for Boris governing without scrutiny?

Bailiff-enforced evictions have been banned during the pandemic. But landlords eager to give tenants the boot are finding ways around this rule. Since the start of lockdown, there has been an extraordinary increase in the number of tenants facing applications from landlords to control the terms under which people live in their homes. 

Sometimes the playing of loud music is given as the reason. Other times it’s because the TV is left on when neighbours are trying to sleep. Perhaps they have had visitors who slammed the front door of their block. But while the circumstances are often mundane, the effect on those who find themselves kicked out can be devastating.

Depending on the case, judges can make all sorts of different orders, from a curfew limiting when music can be played, up to an order excluding the tenant from their home for a certain period.

A few weeks ago, in my work as a housing lawyer, I represented Gaspar, a tenant who suffers Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after he was attacked in his home.