奥运短租价涨20倍 伦敦房东赶房客

Tenants living in east London are facing eviction from their homes with hardly any notice by landlords wanting to cash in on the Olympics.

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter has seen numerous cases of families being forced to seek last minute accommodation after being evicted by their landlords.

In some cases, the tenants are even being evicted illegally by rogue landlords who instead want to use their properties for short-terms lets at inflated rental prices during the London games.

Many homes near the Olympic grounds are being let for 20 times the usual rental price during the games.

Campbell Robb, Chief Executive at Shelter, said: 'Londoners living in the Olympic boroughs are already suffering from increasingly unaffordable rents, a lack of stability and a minority of rogue landlords who exploit the high demand for homes in the capital.

'Increasingly we are seeing signs that the Olympics are exacerbating these problems, with some landlords looking to evict tenants and re-let their homes to Olympic visitors, without any guarantee that they will be filled.

'But the reality is that we are caught in the grip of a housing crisis that’s been decades in the making. Unless the Government starts to prioritise housing and invest in the decent, secure and affordable homes that London and the rest of the country desperately needs, these problems are not going to go away.'

One tenant Ninna Thorhuge told the BBC she had been given just two weeks notice by her landlord that she had to move out.

She told the TV station: 'Everything is done in the name of the Olympics. In my mind it's overrated.

'I know it may be good for London but a lot of Londoners who live here get hurt by it.'

Housing Minister Grant Shapps told the BBC: 'Landlords should be under no doubt that it is a criminal offence for them to evict a tenant without giving proper notice, and that anyone found guilty of doing this - or of harassing a tenant - could lead to a custodial sentence of up to two years.'

The National Landlords Association also condemned the practice - warning landlords it is often more beneficial to have good, long-term tenants in their property.

住在伦敦东部的租客们正面临被房东赶走的难题，而且并没有得到提前通知，因为房东们想在奥运会期间把房子租给短期游客，大捞一笔。

住房慈善机构“庇护所”表示，已经有为数众多的租客家庭在被房东赶走后，被迫紧急寻找住处。

在一些案例中，租客被粗暴的房东非法赶走，因为房东想借伦敦奥运之机把房子短期出租，租金飙涨。

伦敦奥运会期间，奥运场馆周围的住宅租金甚至达到了平时的20倍。

“庇护所”的执行长坎贝尔-罗伯说：“居住在奥运场馆附近的伦敦人已经承受了飞涨的房租，生活缺乏稳定，还有少数粗暴的房东利用伦敦的住房高需求谋利。”

“如今我们越来越多地看到，奥运会正在加剧这些问题。虽然无法保证客源，但一些房东还是想赶走租客，把房子租给奥运游客。”

“但现实情况是我们正身处持续了几十年的住房危机中。除非政府开始重点解决住房问题，投资兴建体面、安全、人们负担得起的住房，这些住房也是伦敦民众和英国其它地区的民众急需的，否则这些问题无法解决。”

租客尼娜-托尔哈格告诉英国广播公司（BBC）的记者，房东已经告诉她，在两个星期内搬离。

她说：“任何事情都在拿奥运说事，我认为这有点过头了。”

“我知道承办奥运对伦敦可能有好处，但很多住在这里的伦敦人却受到了伤害。”

英国住房事务大臣格兰特•沙普斯告诉BBC：“房东们必须清楚，在没有提前通知租户的情况下就将其赶走，这是违法的，任何这样做的人，或者骚扰租客的人都将面临最长两年的监禁。”

英国国家房东协会也对此表示谴责，提醒房东有个长期的好租客其实更有利。