'Eviction means it doesn't feel like Christmas'

Alan and Emily have been ordered to leave their rented home next month

A father and his teenage daughter are facing homelessness after being told to leave their rented home in Leicestershire.

Alan, 60, says he has been served with a "no-fault eviction" notice only weeks after losing his job.

Alan and 13-year-old Emily have been ordered to move out by the middle of next month because their landlord is selling the semi-detached house in Hinckley.

More than 2,000 tenants have received Section 21 eviction notices across the East Midlands in the past year.

"Christmas is not in this house this year," Alan says. "It doesn't feel like Christmas."

Their back room is now packed with boxes filled with memories - including Emily's childhood dolls - as they prepare to leave.

Alan knew his landlord was planning to sell but being served with the Section 21 still came as a huge shock.

"Everything just fell apart, it felt like someone just pulled your heart out, because to me this is my home," he told the BBC.

Alan lost his job as a sports instructor a few weeks before receiving the eviction notice

The timing could not have been worse, because Alan's contract as a sports instructor had only recently ended.

He is entitled to Universal Credit and Housing Benefit but Alan says the soaring cost of renting privately means he cannot afford any tenancy in Hinckley.

He is worried that will stop him finding a new job.

"If I go to work in a school, the first thing they want to know is 'where do you live?' he said.

"If I haven't got an address, I haven't got a job."

Alan is now on Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council's housing list but has been told no suitable social housing is currently available.

The authority says he is one of 350 applicants for two-bedroom properties, and the average waiting time is more than six months.

Alan rejected a temporary offer to share a room with Emily in a hostel for homeless families. That was withdrawn because they have a cat called Baba and the hostel does not accept pets.

He said: "My cat saved the day. They said because of the cat you can't go into the homeless place. She's our family.

"They're trying to put me in a B&B as well. And that would be difficult because you can't take your pets with you either."

Alan and Emily want their pet cat to be able to stay with them

The council has negotiated a 12-day extension to his eviction notice, until 13 January.

It is now offering to help him secure a new private tenancy in a cheaper area, by increasing his housing allowance and paying six months rent up front.

It has sent him a list of available properties within that price range, which are within 50 miles of Hinckley or his family in the Nottingham area.

The closest is in Nuneaton, but others are further away in Daventry, Grantham, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Bolsover, Sheffield and Scunthorpe.

Emily, 13, is worried she will have to move to a new school away from her friends

Emily is worried about where they will end up.

"I don't know if I will have to move schools, I might not see my friends," she said.

"I was really sad and scared because I don't want to leave. It's stressful because I've lived in this house for ages, it's my safe place."

Asked what the worst outcome could be, Alan wells up.

"Not having [anything]. They don't realise how difficult it is. I've done everything people asked me to do. I want to be happy for my family," he said.

Alan says "everything fell apart" when the eviction notice arrived

No-fault evictions are increasingly common. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show cases across the East Midlands have risen by 18% in two years.

In an average week, councils across the region currently deal with about 40 Section 21 orders.

The housing group, Shelter, has issued detailed advice for tenants who are served such notices.

The government has pledged to ban the practice as part of a new Renters' Rights Bill.

Alan and Emily are already packing their lives into boxes