奥运前夕 伦敦房租价格大涨

Tenants² living in east London are facing eviction⁴ from their homes with hardly any notice by landlords wanting to cash in on the Olympics.

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。

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter has seen numerous cases of families being forced to seek last minute accommodation after being evicted⁵（驱逐） by their landlords.

In some cases, the tenants（房客） are even being evicted illegally by rogue⁶ landlords who instead want to use their properties for short-terms lets at inflated⁷ rental⁸ 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 boroughs⁹（区） 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 exacerbating¹¹ these problems, with some landlords looking to evict³ 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 affordable¹⁰ homes that London and the rest of the country desperately¹² needs, these problems are not going to go away.'

One tenant¹ 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 harassing¹³ a tenant - could lead to a custodial¹⁴ sentence of up to two years.'

The National Landlords Association also condemned¹⁵ the practice - warning landlords it is often more beneficial to have good, long-term tenants in their property.