Eviction Update

The government has extended its ban on evictions in England by a further two months, prolonging the timeframe for thousands of tenants who have struggled to pay the rent during lockdown due to the financial impact of the pandemic.

Eviction hearings will not be heard in courts until the end of August and no one will be evicted from their home this summer due to coronavirus.

Campaigners warned is that thousands of tenants in the private and social sectors faced court action from the end of this month because they had gone into rent arrears after losing work due to the Coronavirus.

The Government initially announced an eviction ban in March, which was due to end on 25 June, at which point landlords would have been able to continue or commence legal proceedings to evict their tenants.

The extension will take the ban to five months in total, which means that eviction proceedings will effectively not be able to start up before the 1st of September.

The government said it wanted the court to be a last resort; wanted landlords to try all other possible strategies, such as agreeing on flexible rent payment plans with tenants, to minimise the likelihood of eviction proceedings.

Housing Charities have protested that as the eviction ban will only last until the end of August; the Government must legislate laws and proceedings to minimise the number of homeless after the ban is lifted.

The ban hasn’t stopped people who’ve lost their jobs during this pandemic from building up rent arrears. Even if they have a plan to pay them back, these debts will throw these struggling tenants back into the chance of facing eviction when the ban is over.

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