[Diggers350] Finance capitalism still beating up the urban landless with impunity

[Tony Gosling]

A 30 minute video explainer on how Wall Street 
and The City of London's rentier finance 
capitalism has  almost destroyed industrial capitalism  in the West
with socialist economist and author Prof. Michael 
Hudson https://old.bitchute.com/video/AH8pJ8vLnpQQ/


A day on the front line of Britain’s eviction crisis

One mother debates whether to become homeless now 
or in March. Another breaks down as she explains 
how she has got into thousands of pounds of 
rental debt. On one day in court, Holly Bancroft 
meets the families fighting to keep a roof over their head

Sunday 22 December 2024 16:47 GMT

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/housing-eviction-court-rent-section-21-b2662603.html

Two young girls wearing light blue puffer jackets 
and matching pink boots sit outside the 
courtroom, swinging their legs. It is Watford 
County Court in mid-December and duty solicitor 
Ruth Camp is facing one of more than a dozen 
cases of the day, dealing with tenants facing 
eviction. As the four-year-old plays a 
unicorn-themed game on her mother’s phone, her 
uncle explains the family’s situation.

Their private landlord has been granted a 
possession order that is set to take effect in 
two days’ time and the mother and two children, 
aged four and seven, need more time before they 
are made homeless. The mother is on Universal 
Credit and, despite having four months’ notice of 
eviction, they have not been able to find a new 
private landlord who wants to rent to a family on 
benefits. They’ve applied to the council for 
homelessness help but have not received anything.

The landlord served them with a section 21 
eviction notice – something that all political 
parties have pledged to ban – which means the 
family are not at fault. Inside the courtroom, Ms 
Camp, from housing charity Shelter, addresses 
Judge Richards, warning him that “we are fast 
approaching the Christmas period” when emergency 
housing help will be harder to access.

In a hearing that lasts less than 15 minutes, 
Judge Richards agrees that the family would 
suffer “exceptional hardship” if the date of 
possession is not delayed and he extends the 
order until 9 January, the furthest he can extend 
it to, and the case is dismissed.

It is the 13th case he has dealt with that day; 
in a range that illustrates the sharp end of 
London’s housing crisis. In each case, some 
scheduled for 30 minutes and some 15, a person is fighting to keep their home.

As a duty solicitor, Ms Camp is there to give 
free legal representation to those who need it – 
given a few minutes to get to grips with the 
client’s case before she is whisked into 
courtroom two. The courtroom itself is sparse but 
modern, with the feel of an office boardroom. The 
judge sits elevated, with the royal coat of arms 
behind him and a row of ring binders in front of 
him, raised over a few lines of desks where the 
claimant and defendant sit. Outside, tenants and 
landlords sit together on a row of chairs, 
waiting to be called by the kindly court usher.

With 13 cases on the list, this is a quieter day 
at Watford County Court, Ms Camp says. There are 
usually around 20 cases each day, and Ms Camp 
sees some 400 clients each year. The skill is to 
understand the facts of the situation, and get 
her client to open up to her about any relevant 
issues, all in the short time allotted before the case is heard.

For some, there are deep-seated problems, such as 
private health issues or domestic abuse, which 
tenants can find hard to speak about. But the 
fact they are at the courtroom and speaking to 
the duty solicitor, is often the first step.

“There are an awful lot of people who get listed 
for court hearings and don’t come. Sometimes they 
don’t think they should or they get scared. Maybe 
they’ve been hiding from their post; they bury 
their heads in the sand and hope that the big 
pile of papers by their postbox will go away of 
its own volition,” Ms Camp explains.

The people she sees range from a tenant who had 
to walk three hours to get to court because he 
didn’t have enough money to pay for a bus, to a 
homeowner living in a house worth around £15m who 
had got into considerable mortage arrears.

Today, some people have got thousands of pounds 
of rent arrears and need time to pay back the 
debt. One person has been unable to pay their 
mortgage and the lender is seeking a possession 
order – something that Ms Camp says is getting 
more frequent as people’s fixed-rate mortgages 
come to an end and their rates are hiked up.

In another case, a landlord is in court seeking 
possession of his flat in 14 days. His tenant is 
in rental arrears of £11,250, has not attended 
the hearing that morning, and there is no one 
there to represent him. The last time the 
landlord heard from his tenant was during a check 
of the property on 11 October. The judge grants 
the possession order and additional legal costs of £891.

Next up is a 39-year-old nail technician who has 
cleared £10,300 of rental debts to her housing 
association just before the hearing. She lives in 
a £1,275-a-month two-bed flat in Kentish Town 
with her seven-year-old son and 14-year-old 
daughter. She’s been going through radiation 
treatment to reduce a lump on her thyroid, but is on the mend.

As she’s only got £36 outstanding to pay of her 
rent, the housing association can’t apply for a 
possession order on her home, but they are asking 
for thousands more in legal fees. The 
mother-of-two says she’s happy to pay the costs 
in monthly installments in return for the 
disrepair to be fixed at the property.

A victim of domestic violence, her main concern 
is that the front door is swinging away from the door frame.

Ahead of the next hearing, another mother-of-two 
is debating whether it is better to become homeless now or in March.

The 49-year-old, who lives in Bushey with her 
22-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, has 
been struggling with her mental health since 
lockdown. She’s got into £5,000 of rent arrears 
to her private landlord, and has also been 
battling mould and disrepair in the two-bed flat.

Ahead of the hearing, her landlord has offered to 
write off the arrears if the family move out and 
agree not to pursue a claim for disrepair. He’s 
suggested a three-month grace period where the 
mother would have time to find somewhere new to 
live. But she is worried that if she is given 
three months the local council will refuse to help her.

Finding a new private-rented home would mean 
moving to a three-bed flat, which she would 
likely not be able to afford on the income she 
gets from Universal Credit and part-time 
hairdressing. If she will have to ask the council 
for emergency homelessness housing anyway, 
perhaps it is better to do it sooner rather than later, she suggests.

“I know my son is already having problems at 
school. I just don’t want this drama to be 
happening when my son is studying,” she says. A 
compromise is reached for the possession order to 
be enforced on 10 February and the judge agrees to the plan in a short hearing.

Reflecting on the case afterwards, Ms Camp says: 
“It is always about striking a balance between 
what the court can do, and what is best for the 
client. For her, she needed to move on, so how 
can we do that in a way that will put her in the 
best light with the local authority. It’s not her 
fault that she has been living in accommodation 
that is substandard and has disrepair, but lots 
of local authorities will say you’ve got rent 
arrears and therefore you are intentionally homeless.”

Another mother, who has rent arrears of over 
£3,000, struggles to explain her situation to Ms 
Camp in the private consultation room just off 
the main waiting area. She used to live with her 
17-year-old and 15-year-old children in a 
three-bed housing association flat. But her 
children are now living with her ex-partner. She 
pulls the sleeves of her jumper as she says how worried she is about them.

“My daughter started vaping at the age of 13 and 
my ex-partner just bought vapes for her to sell 
at school. He thought if she is vaping then she 
might as well make some money. I now think that 
she is living with strangers and she has quit college.”

She starts to cry as she explains she didn’t 
realise she could have got a lodger to help her 
pay the rent. “I don’t want to be homeless. I’m 
just not in a good position financially,” she says.

She is trying to support herself by working 
part-time at Tesco and as a personal trainer in a 
gym, and a charity has offered to pay off some of 
her arrears but the housing association needs to approve the payment.

The housing association is seeking a possession 
order to take the flat back over the unpaid rent, 
but they agree to postpone the case for six 
months to give the single mother time to sort out 
a payment plan. Ms Camp relays the news to her. 
“Oh my god,” she says under her breath in relief.