Rishi Sunak is having a busy week. After announcing his crackdown on anti-social behaviour over the weekend, he set out a slew of new promises yesterday to ban laughing gas, increase fines for littering and give police powers to ‘move on’ what he deems ‘nuisance’ beggars.

Among them was a proposal that would allow landlords to evict tenants with just two weeks’ notice if they are disruptive to neighbours through noise, drug use or damage to property. This would apply to all new private rental tenancies. Apart from the fact that two weeks is a very, very short amount of time for a tenant to find a new home, these things seem broadly sensible – after all, landlords are providing a house, but it’s not through goodwill: they deserve for their property to survive untainted, and genuinely disruptive tenants are difficult.

Dropping the barrier at which landlords have the right to quickly evict tenants will also surely add to the strain on social housing

These proposals were outlined last summer in a government white paper on the private rented sector. But Sunak’s new development is that potential eviction can be threatened to tenants whose behaviour is ‘capable’ of annoyance and disruption, rather than being limited to actual anti-social behaviour.

This is a worrying development which is set to be published  in the Renters’ Reform Bill, in conjunction with policies designed to protect tenants. This Bill includes a renewed commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions (under which tenants could be asked to leave a property within two months, with no reason given), as well as including a ban on landlords raising their rents more than once a year. So far, so good. But the private rented sector is already heavily weighted in favour of landlords; there will need to be assurances in place to ensure that rogue landlords can’t use these new proposals to evict tenants quickly (a backdoor once Section 21 notices are scrapped), or to get around rules on raising rent by bringing in new tenants on a new lease.

Cases of domestic violence are disproportionately reported as anti-social behaviour in the rental sector, while tenants with some disabilities or mental health problems may behave in ways some neighbours or landlords find a nuisance. Sunak must ensure that courts – who will judge whether the bar for eviction has been met – are aware of the circumstances of the tenants facing the loss of their homes. Those evicted from private rentals or social housing due to ‘nuisance behaviour’ who become homeless are likely to be classed as ‘intentionally homeless’ if they seek help from the council, which doesn’t guarantee them stable accommodation. In this situation, families with children are offered help (although the houses they are provided aren’t subject to suitability checks). But those without children – and who are not classed as vulnerable – become street homeless.

Dropping the barrier at which landlords have the right to quickly evict tenants will also surely add to the strain on social housing. There are 1.25 million people on waiting lists for social housing at the moment and on Christmas Day, one in 100 children in Britain woke up homeless. Reducing the time tenants have to look for a new home – and to challenge an upcoming eviction – is only likely to increase the pressure on social housing and increase homelessness.

Last summer’s white paper also took statements from tenants who said they were often reluctant to complain about flaws with a property ‘due to the fear of being evicted’. They said they would be more encouraged to complain if ‘they were reassured that they had another property they could move to after having complained, had protection and landlords… had greater accountability’.

Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said of the developments: ‘Millions of private renters across the country currently live under fear of eviction, which can happen with only a few weeks’ notice and no reason given. It makes renting deeply unstable and turns lives upside down. The government has rightly committed to scrap these Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions in the long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill.

‘Once these evictions are finally scrapped, we can’t allow new loopholes for unfair evictions to open up. Private renters deserve genuine security in their homes. Without clear guidance and safeguards in place, there is a real risk that the new anti-social behaviour grounds for eviction could be abused.’

Over the past ten years, I’ve lived in 12 rental properties across four cities. I’ve never missed a payment, never had a complaint against me as a tenant. Yet the mould in my bedroom in one of the flats was so bad I got pneumonia. I had to stay there; it was in Dublin and the rental market is so precarious, expensive and overcrowded that I had little choice but to recover in a cold, damp bedroom, swallowing awful pills the size of horse tranquillisers for a week straight. But there was little I could do to get my (well-meaning) landlord to address the issue – after all, it’s their house, I was just living in it.

‘Everyone deserves a secure and decent home. Our society should prioritise this just like access to a good school or hospital,’ are the words taken from last summer’s white paper. But Sunak’s new proposals show that, at least for now, his priorities lie elsewhere.