TENS of thousands of people have been evicted from their homes by private landlords in a single year, a Ministry of Justice report revealed yesterday.

In the 12 months up to September at least 22,531 households were handed eviction notices by property owners launching legal proceedings to oust them.

This number, out of about 3.2 million private renters in England and Wales, rose by 14 per cent compared to the previous year, the statistics show.