Steep rise in tenant evictions

“What we’re seeing already is a steep rise in the number of tenants, entirely blameless individuals, who are becoming homeless because their landlords can’t pay their mortgage and their homes have been repossessed,” said Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson.

Tenants can get just days’ notice to leave their home, says the charity, which wants ministers to “act quickly to give tenants far, far longer”.

So, it has started.  Tenants will bear the brunt of all this leveraged property speculation from the buy-to-letters.  Arrears are shooting up:

The buy-to-let sector has been the hardest hit over the past year. The number of landlords who are three months or more behind on their mortgage payments rose by 257 per cent between the end of 2007 and the end of 2008, as landlords failed to secure the rents they needed to meet their loan payments.