A single mother forced out of her home of 16 years is calling on the government to improve tenants’ rights.
After she was served with a no-fault eviction notice, Keziah Hall and her teenage daughter were refused hundreds of rentals in Brighton and ended up being placed in emergency accommodation by the council, which they described as unsafe and unsuitable.
Ms Hall said the experience “totally destroyed me as a mother” and “made me feel like I failed my son”.
Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) said it was committed to providing safe and suitable emergency housing, while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the Tenants’ Bill of Rights would provide greater protection in homes.
‘None of my choices’
Ms Hall and her 17-year-old daughter were evicted from their privately rented home in Portslade, West Sussex, in April 2024.
He called on the government to ban no-fault evictions so no one has to go through the same “horrifying and horrific” experience.
A tenant can now be evicted with a Article 21 No-Fault Eviction Notification upon reaching the end of a fixed term tenancy or during a tenancy without an end date.
MHCLG said it will remove them immediately after Tenants Bill of Rights have passed.
A spokesman for the National Association of Residential Landlords said the organization was not opposed to the changes, but wanted to look at “workable” alternatives.
Ms Hall said she applied for 10-14 properties a week after receiving the eviction notice, but kept getting turned down.
The average monthly rent in Brighton and Hove was £1,738 in July 2024, according to data from Office for National Statistics.
Ms Hall said she could not afford a rental property in Brighton, and also believed being a single mother and PhD student limited her options.
Unable to find a home, Ms Hall and her daughter were placed in what BHCC described as “rough” emergency accommodation in a hotel, where she said two attempted break-ins.
She said her daughter temporarily stopped going to college because she was “petrified” in the hotel and “struggled so much” with her living conditions.
“It really destroyed me as a mother,” Ms Hall said. “It makes me feel like I failed my daughter.”
He said the room was not suitable for permanent living, only a microwave and no washing machine.
In a statement, Gill Williams, cabinet member for housing and new housing at BHCC, said the local authority is “committed to providing safe, clean and suitable emergency housing for people who have nowhere else to live.”
Ms Hall and her daughter were shown another emergency flat by the council during this time which was so bad it left her daughter “in tears”.
“It’s disgusting,” she said, explaining that the walls were damp and moldy, while the flat was dirty and stunk of cigarette smoke.
“Having to move into emergency accommodation is not an ideal situation,” said Ms Williams from BHCC.
BHCC recently agreed a pilot scheme to improve support standards for people living in emergency accommodation.
Ms Williams said “no-fault” evictions were “almost unnecessary” and a major cause of homelessness.
Eleanor Bateman, senior campaigner and public affairs officer at the National Association of Residential Landlords, said there were circumstances where it was “legitimate” to own property and needed a “timely mechanism”.
‘housing crisis’
Ms Hall said she eventually found a home through a lettings agent in Brighton, but had to pay six months’ rent up front, which she funded through student loans and housing benefit.
A spokesman for MHCLG said: “The housing crisis is a national scandal and is affecting many people across the country, including in Brighton.”
He said the government was “boosting housing supply, including the biggest increase in social housing in a generation”.