Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has written to billionaire property owner Asif Aziz following allegations that his company is issuing large numbers of Section 21 eviction notices ahead of the planned ban on the practice.
The claims relate to properties owned by Criterion Capital, where several private tenants have reportedly received Section 21 eviction notices. Critics have described the approach as unacceptable given the government’s intention to abolish so-called no fault evictions at the start of May 2026.
It is understood that a number of residents living at Britannia Point in Colliers Wood, Delta Point in Croydon and Emerald House in New Malden, which collectively feature 606 flats, have been served notice to vacate.
Criterion Capital, a property firm that also owns the Trocadeo building in Leicester Square, said these were “routine and lawful tenancy matters” and denied it was accelerating action ahead of legislative reform.
A Mayor of London spokesperson said Khan is “appalled” at the reports and has written to Criterion Capital asking the company to “urgently explain their actions”.
“It is unacceptable to force Londoners out of their homes for no good reason – it leaves residents in an awful position, scared about the future for themselves and their family,” they added.
Through The Aziz Foundation, his family’s charity, Aziz has collaborated with the Mayor of London every year since 2023 to sponsor the official Ramadan Lights switch on, taking place as recently as 14 February.
In a letter sent directly to Aziz, the mayor followed up on an earlier request by London’s deputy mayor for housing Tom Copley, asking for “urgent clarification”.
Khan wrote: “No such explanation has been forthcoming, and you have failed to provide assurances at all about the security of residents. This has created an increasingly worrying and uncertain situation for tenants, particularly now that further allegations have been put to us about evictions already underway.”
“The right to a good, safe and stable home is fundamental and I am steadfast in my opposition to the use of Section 21 no-fault evictions, let alone their potential use on a mass scale.”
According to Merton councillor Stuart Neaverson, Criterion Capital’s alleged actions would be “the largest mass eviction London has seen in recent years”.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The mayor is appalled at reports Criterion Capital are mass evicting Londoners from their homes. We have written to them and asked them to urgently explain their actions.
“Sadiq has always been clear that every Londoner deserves the security and dignity of a stable home. However, unfortunately, we know that the biggest cause of homelessness is a Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction.
“That is why we welcome the upcoming changes as part of this government’s groundbreaking Renters’ Rights Act, which will ban Section 21 evictions in England from 1 May 2026.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has written to billionaire property owner Asif Aziz following allegations that his company is issuing large numbers of Section 21 eviction notices ahead of the planned ban on the practice.
Comments (15)
I suspect said billionaire knows something the rest of us do not. I sense rent controls on the horizon….
Truly bizarre that Sadiq is raging at someone for doing something that is perfectly legal, just because he thinks that everybody should have the security and dignity of a stable home.
If he’s so bothered about people’s rights, then he should be providing for those rights, not demanding that they be serviced by someone else.
Most likely it was the tenants themselves that were the source of instability when they didn’t behave in a tenant-like manner.
If they ever sort the courts out, it will be carnage for substandard tenants who will be marched out of their homes in droves and never have another chance once they have blown it.
Of course, the Section 21 haters will then have to find something else to blame for homelessness, and will push to ban evictions for any reason.
I do agree with him that everyone should have a safe, secure home. The same as everyone should have access to enough food and clean water, but due to the society of this world, that is not the case.
But I find him writing a letter to a Landlord asking why he is serving notice, hilarious! What exactly, is he expecting to happen? Best case, he gets a nice polite letter back explaining the sound financial and business reasons behind the notices. And that is best case. He is not going to change his mind and recall them, just because his mate is unhappy at the logical consequences of his own actions!
Hopefully his “friend” will reply as per the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram or, even more briefly, MYOB.
… Meanwhile, ‘back at the ranch’ John Lewis are bursting the politicians bubble.
Maybe not in this case but I believe s21 was more beneficial for tenants, especially those in rent arrears because landlords used s21 and simply wrote off the arrears, just glad to be rid. Tenants will now find themselves with a CCJ and little hope of ever finding themselves another rental. We know our courts are overwhelmed but waiting almost 12 months for a date will only encourage smaller private landlords to just sell up and invest elsewhere.
CCJs will be the way forward in the future for non-payers.
Agreed. S.21 was the softly softly approach for getting rid of sticky tenants. In Wales we have had 6-month no fault notices since 1/12/2022. One of our landlords has decided to sell and when the tenant approached the Council she was advised to dig her heals in and wait for a court order to vacate. The tenant appreciated that the Landlord had treated her very well for over 10 years and refused to go down that road. The councils need our help to find homes in the PRS, but they obstruct good landlords.
Sadsack Khan still banging his S21 drum.
How dare the little pipsqueak demand a private company explain why they are issuing S21. They obviously have a business plan and would be foolish to share them with this jumped up official.
Unable to edit previous comment- aziz understands how this terrible law will affect all landlords.
No matter how many toys khan throws out of his pram, there is nothing he can do!
In my opinion the only useful thing Khan can do is resign & tender his cv to Murphy’s construction group to fill in pot holes – if they would have him.
And still, local and central government are stumbling around in the dark chanting their anti landlord mantra. Citizen khan has been very vocal on the matter of private landlords but obviously even his mate aziz und
So is this news that even a Labour supporter disagrees with the government’s mandate. Admittedly he has a large portfolio as opposed to the average Joe with one or two units but nonetheless the same sentiment applies.
In due course the courts will be overloaded & more screams from all & sundry.
Section 21 worked & like all things if it “ain’t broke don’t try & fix it” – but there again Labour appears to have broken the UK.
‘several private tenants’
‘a number of residents’
‘large numbers of Section 21 eviction notices’
‘mass scale’
‘mass evictions’
Am I missing something??
RRA was always going to have unitended consequences and under the current regs the landlord is not doing anything wrong legally. I can’t imagine S21s will be served on well behaved residents who pay on time though.
I know of a chap with 200 apartments who’s given the tenants till mid March to come up with a property owning guarantor.
If not a notice will be issued.
Squeaky bum time for the tenants.