A mum believes her family was evicted because they asked the landlord to deal with repairs, including a toilet pipe that leaked sewage into the kitchen.

Morag Meldrum, 53, and her two teenage daughters were renting a house in Darlington, County Durham.

On top of the broken toilet pipe, Ms Meldrum claims the home had leaking ceilings and cracked walls.

The mum had a pact with her landlord – that she would maintain the house – but she claims she did not know how bad the property was.

Ms Meldrum said: ‘I was aware it was an old house and it needed work but not to this extent.

‘My daughter’s bedroom ceiling was boarded up nearly a year ago. The wall has got really bad damp, but (the landlord) kept ignoring it.

‘I flushed the toilet and it flushed through into the kitchen.’

Ms Meldrum said she has spent hundreds of pounds on the property but it still needs a lot more work.

After complaining about how much needed to be fixed at the house, the family were served a no-fault eviction notice.

The mum said: ‘I received the termination through the post and no other communication whatsoever. It’s quite shocking and you feel like you’ve done
something wrong.’

The family was given a deadline of May 26 – during the same month as Ms Meldrum’s daughters’ exams.

Ms Meldrum applied for an extension but it was allegedly ignored. She has now found alternative accommodation for her and her children.

She said: ‘When you complain about maintenance they just throw you out and
they do a botch job of fixing it and get the next tenant in.

‘The blame is usually on bad tenants. Bad landlords aren’t given enough air.’

Landlords can evict tenants without a reason with a Section 21 notice.

There are certain criteria needed to use a Section 21 eviction. For example, a landlord cannot serve a notice if it is less then four months since the tenancy started.

But there are not many meaningful rules protecting the tenant with this type of eviction, according to campaigners.

Support worker at Shelter, Chris Moore, previously told Metro.co.uk: ‘Section 21 evictions are the most straightforward, common types you get in the private rented sector. It’s referred to as the “no fault eviction” because the landlords don’t have to say why they want the property back.

‘So whether they want to sell it, move back into, or knock it down – these are all things they can evict people for without any sort of explanation or evidence.’ 

The Government promised to end the evictions in 2019 but this is yet to come into effect.

Both the landlord and the estate agency responsible for the property declined to comment.

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