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BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nOn the first floor of the Willow Lodge guest house, Habibah and her brother Hameef are jumping around in the cramped bedroom they share with their mother. They dodge the stacked suitcases, the two beds, the small table and the fridge as best they can, but they barely have room to move.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a bigger space,\u201d says five-year-old Habibah. This small double room in east London, with its attached bathroom, has been the family\u2019s home for seven months, and Habibah has had enough. <\/p>\n \u201cWe need a good big space for me and my brother [to play], and there\u2019s no sofa like the old house [had].\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever she’s playing with her toys,\u201d says her mother, Jamaanu, \u201cif the food is ready, she has to put them back again because we don’t have a dining table. We sit on the floor, outside the toilet, and eat our food.\u201d<\/p>\n Although this room is described as temporary accommodation, the family have no idea how long they\u2019ll be here. This uncertainty means that Habibah still attends the same school, even though it is now two buses and an hour away.<\/p>\n Like many others living in this block, the family were victims of a section 21 \u201cno-fault\u201d eviction, where a landlord can ask someone to leave at short notice without giving a reason. The measure is described by charities as a key driver of homelessness, as tenants often find they can no longer afford to rent privately at current market rates.<\/p>\n No-fault evictions increased by 30% in April to June compared with a year earlier, despite the previous government\u2019s longstanding pledge to ban them.<\/p>\n This week, the new Labour administration promised to finally put an end to the practice via the Renters\u2019 Rights Bill.<\/a><\/p>\n From next summer, the government says, landlords will have to give families like these a longer notice period before eviction and also provide a valid reason such as wanting to move in themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But for the London borough of Redbridge, which is paying for the Willow Lodge families, the current situation is crippling.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a similar picture for many other local authorities, who are spending a huge chunk of their budgets providing temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n In the next, smaller, room are Romel Peters and her two sons. They\u2019ve been here for 15 months. They too were made homeless after a no-fault eviction. The family looked for a different flat but Romel says a private two-bed property would cost \u00a31,600 a month, which she says is unaffordable.<\/p>\n The two boys, aged seven and eight, share a double bed while Romel has a single bed beside them. \u201cWe eat, sleep, play, wash, bathe, brush teeth, everything in this room,\u201d says the 37-year-old. But maybe not for much longer.<\/p>\n Redbridge Council wants the family to move to different temporary accommodation, three hours away in West Bromwich, in the west Midlands. She declined.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m from Redbridge, all my family’s here,\u201c she explains.<\/p>\n “Everything I know, everything my children know, is in Redbridge. If we move three hours away, we have nothing. We have no support, no friends, no-one to have regular contact with.\u201d<\/p>\n The council says her refusal to move means she\u2019s made herself intentionally homeless and so it no longer has a duty to help the family. They must leave Willow Lodge in three days\u2019 time.<\/p>\n Redbridge Council told the BBC that alongside the offer of alternative accommodation in the Midlands, it had offered her support to find employment and school places.<\/p>\n While Willow Lodge is at least close to Romel\u2019s support network, residents say they have had a number of issues with the property including cockroaches in the cupboards, as well as an infestation of bedbugs and mice in recent months.<\/p>\n There are two four-ring hobs in the kitchen but only one of them works, they say, while the door of the microwave is broken.<\/p>\n Despite the challenges, there are often queues to use the facilities \u2013 there are at least 20 people, including 12 children living at the property. They can\u2019t however use the kitchen after 10pm, while they say the only washing machine is out of bounds after 5pm. <\/p>\n The residents say the landlord receives between \u00a3400 and \u00a3800 a month for each room depending on its size.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A Redbridge Council spokesperson told the BBC it expects all landlords to provide accommodation of an acceptable standard and in this case would urgently inspect the premises and speak to the tenants about their concerns.<\/p>\n It added that it would expect the landlord to work with the council to urgently carry out any necessary remedial works.<\/p>\n The BBC attempted to contact the landlord for comment through the council but has not received a response.<\/p>\n Alongside higher rates of no-fault evictions and increased rents, cost of living pressures and immigration have created a perfect storm for the temporary accommodation system.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
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