A pro-landlord petition, aimed at reforming the current eviction process, has reached almost 12,000 signatures.
Established by Craig Littlejohn earlier this month, the petition already has 11,846 signatures at the time of writing.
The government is now bound to respond, given that over 10,000 people have signed it, and if this reaches 100,000 signatures it will be debated in parliament.
The petition is calling on the government to institute a six-week expedited court process for Mandatory Grounds s8/7A (arrears or anti-social behaviour) when evicting tenants.
This would also see the creation of a registered-landlord database of court-evicted tenants and the raising of the deposit cap to adequately cover severe damage.
The petition runs until 26th July.
This has been launched in response to the upcoming Renters Rights Act which, from May, will abolish Section 21 evictions.
Critics have argued that this will make it harder for landlords to evict nuisance tenants, with some worried about delays given this will push more cases through the courts.
“We believe this delay punishes law-abiding landlords via irrecoverable arrears and damage,” added text accompanying the petition.
“We urgently need an expedited court process for mandatory grounds (ASB/arrears), a vetting database for repeat offenders, and a higher deposit cap to help sustain the rental market.”
