LONDON tenants rallied yesterday behind a man threatened with a “retaliation eviction” for reporting his dodgy landlord to the council. 

A protest in solidarity with Michael James was staged outside Tower Hamlets town hall as councillors arrived for a council meeting. 

Activists from Tower Hamlets Renters and Unite Community demanded they stop Mr James’s landlord from kicking him out of the Shadwell flat he has rented for the past 25 years.

The unnamed private landlord has threatened to evict Mr James rather than carry out repairs that he is legally obliged to make. 

Mr James’s renting horror story is just one of hundreds across Britain that have contributed to eviction by private landlords becoming the leading cause of homelessness, according to government figures. 

Unite Community coordinator Pilgrim Tucker said: “It is a disgrace that a private tenant trying to exercise his rights and those of other tenants can be treated so badly.”