THOUSANDS of renters will face homelessness due to a delay in the government banning no-fault evictions, campaigners warned today.

Last July, Labour said that it would end Section 21 evictions “immediately” if it won power.

Its flagship Renters Rights Bill was introduced by Housing Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in September.

It was expected to become law this summer but now won’t “until at least the autumn” due to a “grindingly slow parliamentary process,” according to the Financial Times. 

The Bill, which proposes to limit rent increases to once a year, moves to end bidding wars, scraps fixed-term tenancies as well as banning Section 21 no-fault evictions, is yet to go through its third reading at the House of Lords.

Generation Rent deputy chief executive Dan Wilson Craw said: “These delays are a massive setback for the 12 million renters across England. 

“As well as thousands of renters who will face homelessness as a result of Section 21 in the months ahead, most private renters will continue to face uncertainty over their homes as long as their landlord doesn’t need a reason to evict. 

“The government’s promise to abolish the draconian Section 21 is one of their most popular policies so we need to see urgency to get this into law and finally give renters much-needed stability.” 

Some 25,000 households have been threatened with homelessness because of a Section 21 since the new Labour government came into power, according to Shelter.

The homelessness charity’s director of campaigns and policy Mairi MacRae said: “For every day the government doesn’t pass this Bill, another 70 households will be threatened with homelessness because no fault evictions are being kept on life-support for no good reason.  

“The government has the power to stop this, and renters cannot wait any longer. It must make good on its manifesto commitment by passing the Renters Rights Bill as soon as possible and naming an implementation date so renters have certainty on when no fault evictions will finally be scrapped for good.”   

The last Conservative government promised similar legislation but had not done so by the general election last July. 

Landlords earlier this week attacked the Bill in a letter by the National Residential Landlords Association, the British Property Federation and The Lettings Industry Council.