Solicitors report late flood of no-fault evictions before ban in England

Solicitors say they have been inundated with requests to serve last-minute section 21 no-fault eviction notices before they are banned when the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force in England on Friday.The legislation, which has been hailed as the biggest change to renting in a generation, bans no-fault evictions, limits rent increases and abolishes fixed-term tenancies.On the eve of the new rules, solicitors said they were working long hours to keep up with the sudden demand for eviction notices, while Citizens Advice said thousands of people facing a no-fault eviction had approached it for help in the last month.In March, the service helped 2,335 people dealing with a no-fault eviction, up 16% on the same time last year, as well as more than 1,800 people dealing with disrepair such as damp and mould, and more than 1,000 with rent increases.Thackray Williams, a London- and Kent-based law firm, said it had received a wave of last-minute instructions from landlords looking to evict their tenants and sell their properties because of the legislation

Austerity to blame for the fall in healthy life expectancy | Letters

A major cause of the fall in healthy life expectancy (People in UK spend fewer years in good health than a decade ago, study finds, 27 April) is austerity and the continued cuts to social and health spending. In our report Still Digging Deeper: The Impact of Austerity on Inequalities and Deprivation in the Coalfield Areas, which covers Scotland, England and Wales for the period 1984-2024, we highlight how public expenditure cuts since 1984 have disproportionately impacted coalfield areas of the UK.Since 2010, austerity has been stepped up, and we have calculated that welfare reforms and benefit cuts amounted to £32.6bn over the period of 2010-21. Furthermore, in 2025-26 coalfield local authorities had a combined funding gap of £447m

UK researchers develop tool to identify people most at risk of obesity-related diseases

A new tool that can shed light on who is most at risk of obesity-related diseases could help identify people who would benefit most from weight-loss medications, researchers have said.Recent data suggests about two-thirds of adults in England are overweight or obese – a situation that has caused concern among health experts.Now researchers have developed a tool that, they say, offers an accurate and personalised approach to identifying those at risk of obesity-related conditions.They add it could be useful for prioritising who should receive interventions, such as weight-loss jabs, given that access on the NHS is limited and currently based simply on having a high body mass index (BMI) and particular obesity-related health problems.Prof Nick Wareham, of the University of Cambridge, a co-author of the study, said the measure was not about extending the use of particular therapies

Violence against women is at ‘breaking point’, says writer of John Worboys drama

Violence against women is “at breaking point” and the justice system needs to change, according to the writer of new ITV drama Believe Me about the survivors of “black-cab rapist” John Worboys.Jeff Pope, who is also writing a BBC drama about the murder of Sarah Everard, said he wanted to tell these stories because “something needs to happen” and the “police just won’t seem to me to change”.Believe Me tells the true story of how the women who were attacked by Worboys were failed and doubted by the Metropolitan police. He was eventually jailed in 2019, with the help of evidence from Carrie Symonds (now married to Boris Johnson) who was drugged, but escaped being raped. Symonds is portrayed in Believe Me by Industry actor Miriam Petche

Raise tax on alcohol and junk food to cut deaths from liver disease, experts say

Governments in Europe should impose much higher taxes on alcohol and unhealthy food to tackle the continent’s 284,000 deaths a year from liver disease, experts say.Taxes on those products should rise sharply enough for the money raised to cover the huge costs they place on health services, the criminal justice system and social services.The call for tough action on common causes of serious liver disease comes from a commission of experts from the European Association for the Study of the Liver and the Lancet medical journal.They are urging governments in Europe to ensure all alcoholic products carry health warnings and stop under-18s being targeted with online advertisements for alcoholic drinks and junk food.Bold steps are needed to combat “an escalating and unsustainable burden of liver disease”, the commission says in a report published on Wednesday in the Lancet

Leasehold ban in England and Wales unlikely before next general election, minister says

A ban on new leasehold properties in England and Wales is unlikely to come into force until after the next election, the housing minister has said, as he defended the government’s piecemeal attempts to dismantle the system.The long-promised end would take years to “switch on”, Matthew Pennycook said, even though the ban of leaseholds on new houses was passed in 2024 and the government intends to pass one on new flats soon.Pennycook was giving a speech defending the government’s approach to bringing a de facto end to the feudal-era system after years of complaints from leaseholders about crippling service charges and crumbling buildings. He said the process needed to be rolled out slowly to avoid undermining housing supply and falling into legal pitfalls.“I think it’s highly likely that we don’t switch on the ban in this parliament,” he told reporters afterwards