A new paper on retaliatory evictions has been produced in order to brief MPs.

Placed in the Commons Library, its publication comes ahead of the reading of Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather’s Bill on November 28.

Her Bill, as yet unpublished, would prevent landlords from using Section 21 within six months of a tenant making a “relevant” complaint about the condition of their property. The complaint would have to be considered and accepted first by the local council.

The Residential Landlords Association has expressed deep concerns, saying that tenants in arrears or guilty of anti-social behaviour would use such a new law to spin out the eviction procedure. The RLA believes some tenants could make repeated complaints.

The Commons paper by Wendy Wilson notes that bodies such as the RLA are opposed to it, but also says that Teather’s Tenancies (Reform) Bill has government backing.

It also points to Shelter’s claim that some 200,000 private tenants have been evicted after asking for repairs, or after complaining to a local authority’s environmental health department about conditions in their home.

Shelter arrived at this figure after scaling up a survey of 4,554 tenants in which 2% said that they had experienced a retaliatory eviction.

The Bill would introduce a new defence for tenants against the Section 21 procedure. Currently, a Section 21 notice has no legal force when a tenant’s deposit has not been protected, or where a property that should have been licensed has not been.

In February, the Government launched its “Review of property conditions in the private rented sector”. This consultation paper asked three questions about retaliatory evictions and Section 21, including: “How could we prevent spurious or vexatious complaints?”

The Government has yet to publish its own response to the review.

The new briefing paper for MPs is here