Council home tenants ‘need safeguards’

FAMILIES could face being dragged before the courts and thrown out of their homes under Government proposals to reform council house tenancies, a Tory MP has warned.

Government moves to end the “council house for life” by allowing some properties to be let under fixed-term tenancies – rather than permanent ones – need more safeguards to avoid families being unfairly forced out of their home, according to Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy.

“I am not convinced that we could not have a situation where somebody who has been living in their home for five or 10 years is then suddenly dragged before the courts and removed from their home,” said Mr Percy. “I am sure that that is not what Ministers intend or what any local authority would want to see, but I am not convinced that the protection is robust enough in the Bill.”

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Mr Percy agrees that some homes should be let under fixed-term tenancies – which would make it easier for councils to ensure houses are let appropriately rather than a single person occupying a family property even after they no longer need as much space – but said more safeguards were needed to ensure there were still some “secure” tenancies.

Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts said: “The reality is that people will be dragged out of their homes at the end of a flexible tenancy and told ‘That is no longer your home’.”