Crawley man served eviction notice after rent increase: Retired tenant avoids forced removal from his home

Richard W. Symonds, 69, of Ifield Street protested against the Section 21 eviction notice on his flat that he has been living in for seven years. The property was first rented by Richard’s late mother and he moved in to become his mother's carer after she had a fall. Mr Symonds had support from the Ifield community and a petition was created to prevent his forced removal by the landlord.

He has since found the resources to pay the rent increase on his flat and the Section 21 has been rescinded but warns that others might not be so fortunate.

See more: Crawley man served eviction notice after rent increase which left him ‘shocked, angry and anxious’: Here is what the landlord and estate agents had to say, Crawley man served eviction notice after rent increase: Petition raised to fight against the ‘unjust eviction’, What’s in my shop Crawley: Take a look inside one of the town’s oldest party shops

Mr Symonds on the rescinding of this Section 21 said: "Just a few hours before St Margaret’s Parochial Church Council [PCC] last Thursday (January 26) - in which the S.21 Eviction Notice was to be discussed, I received this message from BBC’s Ben Weisz: ‘We’ve just been told by the Diocese that the church has asked the agents to rescind the s21 notice.’

“To me, that would suggest ‘an eleventh hour’ intervention by the Chichester Diocese (presumably the registered charity, the Diocesan Board of Finance). It seems the decision was ‘down to the wire’ - taken out of the hands of the local PCC at the last moment.

“My guess that the Section 21 notice was removed is that it was a cumulative combination of factors leading up to Thursday’s PCC meeting. As I read it, serving Section 21 was legally right but morally wrong. The moral argument was brought to bear, putting moral pressure on ‘the Landlords’.

“They probably would have continued to serve the Section 21 Notice because it was legally right, but backed down at the last minute because it was morally wrong; a decision which - if enforced - would have caused severe reputational damage to the Church of England as a whole [not just Chichester Diocese and St Margaret’s Parish].

See more: Crawley man served eviction notice after rent increase which left him ‘shocked, angry and anxious’: Here is what the landlord and estate agents had to say, Crawley man served eviction notice after rent increase: Petition raised to fight against the ‘unjust eviction’, What’s in my shop Crawley: Take a look inside one of the town’s oldest party shops

“Thankfully, I have found the resources to pay the full market rent still demanded - for now - but what of tenants who do not have such resources to call upon?”