New bill targets domestic abusers and overhauls right to buy in England

Social housing landlords will be able to evict domestic abuse perpetrators under a new bill, which will also increase the tenancy required before residents qualify for the right-to-buy scheme from three to 10 years in England . The government said the bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, would fix “the long-term decline in social housing” and offer new protections for social tenants who were subjected to domestic abuse. Its progress in parliament was welcomed by domestic abuse campaigners, such as the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance, who said it represented “an important and long overdue step forward”. The bill is returning to parliament for its second reading, after being announced in King Charles’s speech on 13 May. Last year, about 15,000 families in England were forced to find a new social home because of domestic abuse, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The bill is intended to ensure that landlords and courts can evict perpetrators of domestic abuse from social housing without the victim having to leave their home first. At present, social housing landlords can evict a perpetrator only after their victim has moved out, and in joint tenancies, the only option for the victim is to end the tenancy entirely, possibly becoming homeless. …