A city man has been left feeling "helpless" after being evicted from his home of three years so his landlord can hike up the rent.

Jawad Iqbal, 35, had lived in a flat in Grosvenor House, Prince of Wales Road with his brother Waqar.

Four months ago it all went sour for the brothers who were served with a section 21 notice by their landlord via agents Norfolk Property Lettings and Management out of the blue on April 4.

Norwich Evening News: Jawad Iqbal with his wife Anoosha PasaddaqJawad Iqbal with his wife Anoosha Pasaddaq (Image: Supplied by Jawad Iqbal)

The section 21 notice - a 'no fault' eviction - gave them a little more than two months to leave the flat they had called home for three years.

A bill will be introduced in the 2022-23 parliamentary session to abolish 'no-fault' section 21 evictions in the private rented sector.

It then became clear, once the property was re-listed on the market, that their landlord had evicted Jawad and Waqar so that the rent could be hiked up from £795 to £1,225 per calendar month - an increase of 54pc.

Norwich Evening News: Waqar Iqbal lived in a flat with his brother Jawad for three yearsWaqar Iqbal lived in a flat with his brother Jawad for three years (Image: Supplied by Jawad Iqbal)

Jawad explained how he offered to pay an extra £100 in rent but agents Norfolk Property Lettings and Management did not accept the offer, or offer the chance to negotiate with the landlord in a bid to stay in their flat.

"We were so helpless when we were evicted from our home," Jawad said.

"The landlord is evicting people out of their homes so he can increase his rents and returns by more than 50pc.

"And all of this during this inflation crisis.

"We have felt helpless through the last three months by this landlord and his agent."

Jawad added that had been in contact with Norwich City Council and homeless charities like Shelter during this time to try and make sure he didn't end up homeless.

He added: "I don't get scared very easily, but I felt like I the security I needed wasn't there.

"I felt under a lot of pressure and stress. I was standing up for myself in the first month or so to try and reverse the eviction, but I later realised that they could essentially kick me out or take me to court.

"That is where I felt really bad about the whole situation. I felt helpless.

"I felt let down. I assumed that you couldn't be kicked out if you were paying your rent and doing everything right."

During this turbulent time, Jawad was juggling working full-time as the director of Norwich's Muffin Break franchise while desperately finding somewhere for he and his wife Anoosha Pasaddaq - who moved to England from their native Pakistan in June after completing her medicine degree - to live.

The couple have since moved in to a new property in Angel Road with an independent landlord, free of an agent.

"It all just felt like an insult. Even though I'm still living in the same country in the same city, that whole experience felt like a different world," he said.

Dr Jan Sheldon of Norwich homelessness charity St Martins said: "We are seeing an increase in the need for the services we provide and sadly due to the cost of living crisis I don’t see this situation getting any better at the moment.

"In fact as winter sets in and the cost of living becomes even more expensive I expect the situation to reach a crisis point.

"Here at St Martins we’re as prepared as we can be for a greater demand to be placed upon us.

"More needs to be done by central government to address both the housing crisis and cost of living crisis.

"Kicking the ball into the long grass and not addressing the problems we currently have will only make matters worse and could result in more people being on the streets."

Norwich-based Norfolk Property Lettings and Management, which manages the property on behalf of landlord David Cleave, was approached for comment.