Latest news with #Section21


The Citizen
3 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
Gauteng schools urged to settle electricity and water bills
Gauteng Education confirms June payments were made and schools must now ensure their water and electricity bills are up to date. The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) says no school will face water or power cuts if school governing bodies (SGBs) pay municipal bills with the funds they were allocated in June. The department confirmed on Thursday that June payments were made to all schools for payment of their respective municipal billing accounts. This comes after the financial situation at the schools was shared in a written response to an issue raised by the DA shadow MEC for education, Sergio dos Santos. Over 500 schools disconnected in 2025 A detailed list provided by Education MEC Matome Chiloane's office showed that 536 schools endured some sort of billing-related disconnection in 2025. Of those, 293 were for a period of at least 30 days, while another 250 experienced disconnections lasting between seven and 18 days. Four of the schools had their water disconnected for periods between 10 and 27 days, with the remaining schools having had their electricity disconnected. ALSO READ: If it ain't broke, break it anyway There were 16 schools that had their water, electricity, waste and sewerage services disconnected simultaneously. Schools with the highest bills include Fleurhof Primary with an overdue amount of R3.8 million, R1.6 million owed by Soshanguve South Primary, and R1.9 million owed by Fusion Secondary in Lotus Gardens. The GDE further reiterated that once the funds have been transferred, it is the responsibility of the schools and their SGBs to make sure that their municipal accounts are settled and paid on time to avoid water and electricity cuts. Schools are responsible for their own money – GDE The department emphasised that schools, specifically those granted Section 21 functions, are tasked with handling their own money, in line with legislation. These schools are responsible for a range of functions, including the payment of municipal services such as electricity and water. 'No public school in Gauteng is currently, or will ever be, disconnected from water and electricity services now and in the near future,' said Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane. 'Schools must work hand in hand with the GDE to continue achieving this by ensuring their municipal accounts are up to date at all times and that they comply with all necessary procedures.' ALSO READ: Payment delays for school assistants caused by DBE verification issues GDE said that in addition to allocating funds, it provides oversight and support to these schools, having previously settled outstanding accounts on behalf of schools in April 2025. The department also said that it trains SGBs and schools in financial management to emphasise the importance of complying with all relevant financial procedures. Parents and communities urged to support SGBs The GDE said that it continues to collaborate with school leadership structures to ensure sound financial governance and uninterrupted access to basic services. 'We call on parents, communities, and stakeholders to support schools and their school governing bodies in executing their duties not just responsibly but to the benefit of all learners, educators, and school-based staff,' said Chiloane. Additional reporting by Jarryd Westerdale


Daily Mirror
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Third of renters 'could be forced out by rent hikes' despite landmark reforms
Labour's significant Renters' Rights Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, will ban landlords from evicting renters for no reason from their homes - but fears remain As many as a third of renters could be forced out by rent hikes despite landmark legislation to protect their rights, research shows. Labour 's significant Renters' Rights Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, will ban landlords from evicting renters for no reason from their homes. But despite Section 21 evictions being abolished, campaigners have raised concerns that landlords would still be able to use unfair rent hikes to push people out of their homes. Polling by the Renters Reform Coalition (RRC) has found 34% of renters, and 29% of renters with children, said they would "definitely" be forced to move home by a rent increase of £110 per month. Analysis by the campaign group suggests the average rent increase recommended at first-tier rent tribunals is more than double this at over £240 per month. RRC said the government recognises 'unreasonable rent increases' and had promised to 'empower' renters to challenge them through tribunals. But its polling showed more than half of renters (54%) were unaware that rent tribunals exist and only 14% said they were 'very likely' to use one to challenge a rent increase in future - even after the government has made changes to improve the process. The RRC is calling on the government to introduce a cap on in-tenancy rent increases so renters can remain in their homes. The Renters' Rights Bill is in its final stages of the House of Lords and so is due to become law soon. Peers have attempted to amend the legislation to limit rent increases. Tom Darling, Director at the RRC, praised the 'long overdue' Bill to improve renters' rights but said 'the rent rise eviction loophole is a serious gap in the legislation'. 'Even after section 21 is abolished, our research suggests as many as a third of renters will still face being pushed out of their homes and communities by rent increases, and landlords will be able to use rent hikes they know tenants cannot afford to threaten or intimidate,' he said. "The government's proposed solution will not address this - our analysis shows rent tribunals will do nothing to protect the large proportion of renters who already cannot afford average market rents, even if they were willing to take their landlord to a tribunal in the first place.' A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: 'Our landmark Renters' Rights Bill will ensure that landlords are only be able to increase rents once a year to the market rate, and tenants will be able to challenge unreasonable rent increases through the First-tier Tribunal. 'This will prevent unscrupulous landlords using rent increases as a backdoor means of eviction, while ensuring rents can be increased to a fair rate.' The Government has been clear it does not support rent caps. Officials say heavy-handed controls tend to mean higher rents at the start of a tenancy. It was also highlighted that MHCLG secured a £39billion investment for affordable housing at the Spending Review. ::: The RRC commissioned polling from More in Common, who surveyed 1,076 private renters through three separate polls between April 25 - May 5.


Scottish Sun
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
New rules to help renters including bans on shock evictions delayed again
We reveal what help you can get if you're struggling with rent below HOUSE THAT New rules to help renters including bans on shock evictions delayed again Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) NEW rules giving more power to renters including a ban on shock evictions have been delayed again. The Renters' Reform Bill will reportedly not come into force in autumn as planned due to delays in Parliament. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 The Renters' Reform Bill has been held up in Parliament Credit: Alamy The far-reaching bill will ban Section 21, also known as "no fault" evictions, as well as prevent landlords from increasing rents to deliberately squeeze hard-up renters out of their homes. The delay to the ban on Section 21 notices, as first reported by The Financial Times, is the first in a string of push backs. Fears have been raised by campaign group the Renters Reform Coalition that the latest delay could mean the bill not coming into effect until the spring of 2026. Tom Darling, director, said: "Renters will feel let down yet again on hearing that Section 21 no fault evictions are now unlikely to be scrapped until 2026 - a year and a half since the government was elected on a manifesto pledge to 'immediately abolish' them. "Now we find out renters will be facing a second no-fault eviction nightmare at Christmas since this promise was made. "Everyone needs a decent, secure home, but with every month that passes thousands more renters are faced with a no-fault eviction. "The Government must show a renewed impetus to get this over the line." Estimates from Shelter suggest around 25,000 households have been threatened with homelessness following a Section 21 notice since the Labour Party was elected. The charity said this means for each day the Government delays a ban, 70 households will be threatened with homelessness. The Sun spoke to one couple who were forced out of their home before Christmas, leaving them scrambling to find a new place to live with their four kids. Landlord Responsibilities Trevor and Tnaesha Twohig described receiving the no-fault eviction as "devastating and anxiety-inducing". The Sun asked the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to comment. What else is included in the Renters' Reform Bill? It's not just a ban on Section 21 evictions covered in the Renters' Reform Bill. A host of other changes are included in the legislation. These are just a few of the major ones: Ensuring possession grounds are fair to both parties - this will give tenants more security but also allow landlords to recover their properties "when reasonable". - this will give tenants more security but also allow landlords to recover their properties "when reasonable". Providing stronger protections against backdoor eviction - this will ensure tenants can appeal above-market rents which are designed to force them out. - this will ensure tenants can appeal above-market rents which are designed to force them out. Introduce a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman - this will mean renters can get impartial help if they have a grievance with their landlord. - this will mean renters can get impartial help if they have a grievance with their landlord. Give tenants strengthened rights to request a pet in the property - a landlord will have to consider this and cannot refuse it unreasonably. - a landlord will have to consider this and cannot refuse it unreasonably. Apply "Awaab's Law" to the sector - this will set clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which landlords in the private rented sector have to take action to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards. Help you can get to pay rent You might be able to get help via the Household Support Fund, which is worth £742million to councils in England. What to do if you've been served a Section 21 notice Here is what you can do, according to the Renters' Reform Coalition... Check the form - A section 21 notice must be on an official form, known as a 6a form. Your landlord can't issue an eviction notice just by telling you in person or by text/email. Check if the form is valid - you must be given at least two months notice to vacate a property. You also can't be given a section 21 if your tenancy started less than four months prior. If you are on a fixed term contract you can't receive a section 21 unless there is a break clause in it. These things can also make a section 21 notice invalid: The council have given your landlord an improvement notice to fix things, or an emergency works notice, in the last 6 months. Your deposit isn't in a deposit protection scheme. In that case the landlord must return it to you before they can issue a section 21. The property is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) but it doesn't have a HMO licence from the council. In some areas all rented properties need a licence - check with your council. The landlord has charged you illegal fees - such as a deposit worth more than 5 weeks rent, or admin fees. In this case they must return the money to you before serving a section 21. You never received key paperwork for the property - the Energy Performance Certificate, the 'How to rent' guide, and a gas safety certificate (if there is gas). What to do if the section 21 is valid: You don't have to leave the property at the end of your section 21 notice. Your landlord still has to apply to court for a possession order and a warrant for eviction, to use court bailiffs to evict you. If you are remaining in your property after the end of a section 21 notice, make sure you inform your landlord and continue to pay rent while you look for another place to live. If you can't find somewhere to rent and are facing homelessness, tell your council immediately. They should be able to advise you on what to do and provide emergency temporary accommodation or other support. Local authorities have until March 31, 2026, to allocate their share of the fund and can set their own eligibility criteria. But you might be able to get free money through the fund which can be used to pay for rent. Speak to your local council about what help is on offer. You can find your local council via You might also be able to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment to cover the cost of rent. You can apply for a DHP if you get Housing Benefit or receive the housing element of Universal Credit. Some charities offer grants to those struggle to make ends meet as well. Use the Turn2Us grants search checker to see if you're eligible for anything - Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories


Telegraph
20-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Landlords could be forced to forgo rent for a year under Labour reforms
Landlords could be forced to forgo rent for up to a year under Labour's rental reforms, experts have warned. A provision in Angela Rayner's Renters' Rights Bill, which is just one parliamentary vote away from becoming law, will stop landlords who put their homes on the market from relisting properties as rentals for up to a year if they fail to sell. With as many as a third of house sales falling through, it could leave thousands of potential rental properties locked out of the market. So-called 'Section 21' notices – also known as no-fault evictions – will be banned, and all tenancies will be on a rolling basis with no fixed end date. The Bill will stipulate that landlords can only repossess properties in four circumstances: if they're looking to sell, if they're looking to move in, or if there is redevelopment or if the property is seized by a mortgage lender. Other grounds include if tenants fail to pay the rent on time, although landlords will have to wait longer to evict for this reason. Chris Norris, chief policy officer for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: 'Whilst we understand the Government wants to prevent abuse of the new tenancy systems, the country cannot afford to have homes standing empty for months on end. 'Around a third of property sales fall through before completion, mostly as a result of problems faced by the buyer. 'Given the scale of the housing crisis, it cannot be right that homes will be left empty for many months even when landlords are not to blame when a house sale fails to progress.' Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said that the new rules will mean that 'landlords must provide at least four months' notice to a tenant should they need or wish to sell their property. In addition, there will also be an initial 12 months 'protected interval' at the start of any tenancy where a landlord is prevented from evicting a tenant for the purpose of selling. Further to this, should a landlord choose to sell the property in question, they will be restricted from re-letting that property for a period of 12 months after evicting the tenant, should the property not sell'. Mr Emerson added: 'This may in some circumstance cause a degree of property vacancy, in an already pressurised situation where supply is greatly required.' Many of the reforms included in the Bill were first mooted by Michael Gove, the former Conservative housing secretary. But the original legislation said landlords would have to wait three months to relist a property that had been put on the market, rather than a year. Landlords have repeatedly warned that the more stringent rules will push them out of the market, eat into margins and make letting out properties unprofitable. In March, the number of UK properties available for rent hit an all-time low of just 284,000 – 23pc lower than during the pandemic, when the market dried up. Tax credits on mortgage interest for landlords were gradually slashed between 2017 and 2020, down from 40pc for higher-rate taxpayers to a flat rate of 20pc. Interest rates leapt, with buy-to-let mortgages at the sharper end of the increases – squeezing landlord profits even as rents rose. In Rachel Reeves's maiden Budget, an extra 5pc stamp duty surcharge was introduced on additional property purchases. Housing charities said that the delay of a year was necessary in order to stop the backdoor return of 'no-fault' evictions. Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said: 'It's right the Government will outlaw arbitrary Section 21 evictions through the Renters' Rights Bill. This change can't come soon enough. 'If landlords are concerned about a property sitting vacant, they are free to sell with sitting tenants.' A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: 'Our landmark Renters' Rights Bill will bring long overdue fairness to the market by making sure it is unprofitable for landlords to evict a tenant and deprive them of their home, just so they can rent to new tenants at a higher price.'
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The mum and two kids living in a hotel room with beds pushed together
A mum has been left living in a hotel room with her son and baby due to the housing crisis. Abbie Coulthard, eight-year-old son Rocco and six-month-old Dollie, live in a hotel room with three beds pushed together. The main bed is for Abbie, a single bed for Rocco, and a unit for Dollie to sleep in between them. The family is one of many impacted by Liverpool's ongoing housing crisis. Their situation means that they have been forced to live in a hotel room for five weeks, the Liverpool ECHO reports. READ MORE: When UK weather will change as soaring temperatures of 28C set to hit READ MORE: Exact time the Red Arrows will fly over the North West this afternoon Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE In the hotel room they currently call home clothes hang from the curtain pole by a window which doesn't open. Next to the hotel TV are an air fryer and a kettle, which are their only way of heating up food. Behind the bed is a large, garish picture, a stark reminder that the room is usually aimed at people heading out on the town and not a family just trying to get by. Liverpool is currently in the midst of an acute homelessness and housing crisis. Sadly, Abbie and her family are one of around 1,250 families who need emergency temporary accommodation. The crisis is expensive as well, with Liverpool's council having to pay some £21 million to house desperate people in hotels and bed and breakfasts. This figure represents an astonishing 12,000 percent increase over five years. This year the bill is only set to rise further still, and could hit £30 million. Each of these figures represents a story just like that of Abbie and her family. "We lived in a normal house in Hunts Cross, but the landlord put the rent up and then said he wanted to sell the house," explains the 31-year-old mum. "We got a Section 21 eviction notice and we had to move out." Before this, Abbie had operated a café and considered herself to be doing fairly well, but like with many people who are forced out of their homes - things can quickly spiral. Cost of living pressures forced her to close the business and with nowhere for her and her children to live - she desperately contacted Liverpool City Council for help. At this point Abbie and her children joined the growing number of people living a transient existence in this city, being moved from temporary spot to temporary spot, wherever the council could find. Some locations were a very long way from home. "At first they put us near Warrington in a motel room at a service station full of trucks," explains Abbie. "There was nowhere to make food, we survived on meal deals from WH Smith, I had nowhere to sterilise the baby's bottles, it wasn't good at all." After this, the family were remarkably moved all the way to Manchester. The facilities were better but the distance made it almost impossible for Abbie to get 8-year-old Rocco to his school in south Liverpool. Eventually the family were brought back to Liverpool and are currently residing in a city centre hotel, which the ECHO has agreed not to reveal the location of. What has complicated an already very difficult situation is that Abbie has a debilitating health issue in the form of serious cluster headaches. She has been prescribed oxygen tank therapy to relieve the serious pain she faces from the condition, but says this has never been taken into account by those placing her in temporary accommodation. "I have been here for five weeks now," she explains. "When I first got here I was saying I need to get my oxygen delivered and they said I couldn't have that here. It was health and safety or something. But I really need it. I haven't been able to take it to the other places they put me either." "I am trying to just keep everything together," she adds. "I have got to, for these two. But my head kicks off every couple of hours if I am up all night, I struggle. It's not fit for purpose being here, especially with my health condition. Its just a nightmare. We can't stay here." While we are talking, Rocco, just in from school, jumps on the bed to grab a drink from a mini-fridge that is resting on the window ledge of the hotel room. "That's my mini fridge," he says proudly. "It's going to go in my new room when I get one." Abbie says she struggles with the impact her situation is having on her son. "He hates it, he can't play out with his mates or anything, we have no life here," she explains with a resigned expression. "I am trying to keep him happy. We went to Taskers the other day and I was asking him what he wants for his new room. And he was like 'have we got a house?' and I had to say 'not yet.' It's not easy." For anyone looking after a six-month baby and an eight-year-old son would be tough, but to do it in these cramped conditions is another matter. "We try and stay out of the room as much as possible," says Abbie. "We can't even cook a meal at home. All we can do is use the air fryer and the fridge." In today's precarious society, where rising rents, cost of living pressures and a lack of affordable housing have created a perfect storm of problems for families, Abbie's is a story that could happen to so many. "This could happen to anyone," she says. "I had my business, I had a house, I was driving around in a nice car. And then this happened to me overnight. "I have never depended on anyone before, I've worked all my life and the one time I am now struggling it feels like I am just getting fobbed off." "It's just scary how everything can spiral so quickly," she adds. "I just feel like I am drowning." The ECHO has made enquiries about Abbie's housing situation with the city council. It is understood she has just recently been offered a property in north Liverpool, but is concerned about accepting it because it is even further away from Rocco's school than her current base.