Matt Vermillio says he is facing eviction not long after finding out he is being made redundant

PRIVATE tenants in a group of Barnsbury flats are being forced from their homes through “no-fault” evictions, days before the section 21 notices become illegal.

Some of the tenants in the building in Offord Road had moved in just four months ago, but were ordered by landlords Kings Oak Capital to leave just weeks after unpacking their boxes.

Housing campaigners have said the evictions are part of a “mass wave” witnessed across the borough as landlords try and evade the new rules.

The Renters’ Rights Act will become law today (Friday), putting an end to no-fault evictions which currently mean tenants can be told to move out without landlords having to provide a reason.

Nea Pettinen, who moved into her new flat in December, told the Tribune how receiving the notice in April had left her “really upset” and worried about where she would go next.

She said: “When I applied for this flat I told them, I want to make it a long-term home. I bought new furniture, and everything. I moved in here in December, so they could only serve me the notice between the 10th and the last day of April. So they only had a couple of weeks or they couldn’t have done it legally. And obviously they just did that.”

Under current legislation, the section 21 notices can only be served after a tenant has occupied the home for a minimum of four months.

Ms Pettinen said: “It just seems so unfair that this legislation is coming to help people, but it’s actually creating this bubble in London where the not-so-kind people are kicking people out of their homes, out of their place of security, so they don’t have to be held responsible.”

Her neighbour, Matt Vermillio, who has rented his flat for almost four years, said that the news had come at a “very difficult time”, within weeks of finding out he had been made redundant from his job.

He said Kings Oak sent him a copy of the Renters’ Rights Act outlining his rights last week, followed almost immediately by a section 21 eviction notice.

Tenants in the block told the Tribune that while multiple tenants were being evicted, not every flat was being asked to leave, meaning it is unlikely Kings Oak will sell the property.

Mr Vermillio said: “I mean, it sucks. It’s pretty much the last thing I need right now. I’ve been here a few years, I feel settled. So it’s really not what I wanted to happen.

“Ideally, they’d at least give the option for new contracts with the current tenants. Although, they’d probably just price us out if we stayed anyway, make it much more expensive to be here. But at least they’d have offered.

“I’m not even sure how to contact them.”

In January, the Tribune reported how Kings Oak Capital had acquired former Islington Council housing stock, and were profiting by using it as temporary accommodation for families in the borough.

Dan Newcombe, the London organising manager for Acorn, said: “It’s bad seeing the current mass wave of no-fault evictions that are happening across London right now. Because once the Renters’ Rights Act comes in, strengthening tenants’ rights, landlords have less power.

“We’re seeing this really predatory and profiteering approach where, often, they try to move towards using property for temporary accommodation, because that is where a lot of the money is.”

Kings Oak Capital was approached for comment but did not respond.