Can My Landlord Evict Me for Complaining About Disrepair?

Short answer: no, not legally, not as a direct answer to a complaint. Retaliatory eviction has been restricted in England and Wales since 2015. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 has now removed the main tool private landlords used for it: the Section 21 "no-fault" notice. Social tenants, council and housing association, have always held much stronger security. A landlord cannot evict you simply for raising a complaint. Private tenants now stand better protected too. Complaining about disrepair, asking for repairs in writing, or bringing a claim is your legal right. The law backs you up.

That said, "cannot legally" and "will not try" differ. Knowing the rules is your strongest protection.

If you are a social tenant (council or housing association)

You almost certainly hold a secure tenancy with a council, or an assured tenancy with a housing association. Both protect strongly. The tenancy ends only by court order, on specific legal grounds. The common ones: serious rent arrears, or serious antisocial behaviour. "Made a complaint about damp and mould" is no ground for possession.

If a social landlord ever tried to evict you because you complained, that would be:

• A breach of the regulator's consumer standards on openness and accountability
• Possibly harassment under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
• Direct evidence in any later disrepair claim

In practice it almost never happens. What happens instead: complaints get ignored. Is the landlord still ignoring your reports after Stage 1 and Stage 2? A claim may stand. Call us free on 0800 030 4669.

If you are a private tenant

The law here changed in a big way across 2025 and 2026.

Before the Renters' Rights Act 2025, private landlords removed tenants with Section 21 "no-fault" notices. In many documented cases the notice landed right after a disrepair complaint. The Deregulation Act 2015 gave some cover: a Section 21 failed where a council improvement notice had been served in the prior 6 months. But it ran narrow.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolishes Section 21 outright, for new and existing private assured shorthold tenancies. They convert to a new periodic assured form. Possession now needs specific legal grounds. Broadly: serious rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, the landlord moving in, or selling. "Complained about damp and mould" sits nowhere on that list.

It is the biggest shift in private tenant security since the original 1988 Act.

What retaliatory eviction looks like

Even when the law bars eviction for complaints, landlords sometimes try side routes:

• A sudden Section 8 notice citing arrears the tenant disputes
• A "we're selling" notice, which the new rules hedge with limits and protections
• Pressure to give up the tenancy "by choice"
• Harassment: services pulled, repairs refused harder, visits with no warning

All of these have countermeasures. The key points:

• Never leave just because you were told to. No legal eviction exists until a court makes a possession order and a bailiff carries it out.
• Get advice at once when a notice lands: Citizens Advice, Shelter, or the council's housing options team.
• Document everything: every notice, every visit, every text.

Asking for repairs is not "asking for trouble"

Many tenants fear that complaining will trigger eviction. The fear runs strongest among older tenants, and those whose immigration status feels shaky. The law in England and Wales now guards against it:

1. Written disrepair reports are evidence. They strengthen any future case and guard against payback.
2. Bringing a disrepair claim is your legal right. It cannot lawfully trigger an eviction.
3. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 removes the main tool this kind of eviction leaned on in the private sector.
4. Social landlord rules make payback a failing the regulator can act on.

What to do if you think you are being targeted

1. Get the notice or threat in writing. Never settle for spoken words.
2. Do not leave. Until a court order lands and gets enforced, no eviction has happened.
3. Call Shelter's free housing helpline on 0808 800 4444 for emergency advice.
4. Tell the council's homelessness prevention team. They carry a duty to help.
5. Write down the timeline. When did you complain, and when did the eviction move follow? The gap between them matters.
6. Carry on with the disrepair complaint. Our letter builder makes a clean, dated formal complaint. It starts the landlord's formal clock and builds the paper trail.

Does a disrepair claim affect your tenancy?

No. A disrepair claim gives the landlord no ground for possession on its own. Tenants settle large claims all the time and keep living in the same home. Sometimes the works get done and things reset.

Get help

Dealing with disrepair, and worried about complaining? Call Support for Tenants on 0800 030 4669 for a free assessment. We are a regulated company, not a law firm. We work with solicitors who run disrepair cases on a no-win-no-fee basis.

Free alternative: Shelter (0808 800 4444) and Citizens Advice both offer free advice.

Sources: Deregulation Act 2015, retaliatory eviction (legislation.gov.uk); Renters' reform in England: what's happening and when, House of Commons Library.

Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.