From today possession cases with severe rent arrears will be exempt from the effective ban on evictions applying to the England lockdown.
This means that bailiffs and High Court Enforcement Officers can move to enforce warrants and complete evictions.
However, this will only apply to cases where the equivalent of nine months’ rent arrears had been built up before March 23 this year, when the UK went into national lockdown.
Paul Shamplina, founder of landlord and tenant solicitors’ firm Landlord Action says: “This is very welcome news for those landlords whose tenants had stopped paying rent months prior to the pandemic and, until now, had been given carte blanche to continue living rent free. However, there are concerns about how long it will take those landlords, whose arrears cases fall short of the government’s definition of ‘substantial’ - ie, nine months, to regain possession.”
The eviction ban started in March and ended in September, only to be reinstated in areas classified as Covid risk Tier 2 or Tier 3.
On November 5 the government said renters would be protected during the second [England] restrictions with no bailiff enforcement action, except for the most egregious cases such as anti-social behaviour. The statement also said that an exemption would be introduced for extreme pre-Covid rent arrears cases, which has been announced today.
Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
A legal challenge has been started to the government’s current ‘ban’...
It’s been confirmed that during the current one month lockdown in...
The current extension to the eviction ban in England and Wales...
Generation Rent says there should be a reinstatement of the eviction...
The vast majority of tenants are unaware of new laws introduced...
Despite the recent tax crackdown, buy-to-let continues to look an attractive...
The property market had enjoyed a boost thanks to the outcome...
There wasn’t much by way of good news in the Spring...
National Landlord Investment Show has announced that the former Leader of...
Twenty twenty-four is a pivotal year for landlords in the Private...
The management of BTL properties, whether it's a modest collection of...
We are thrilled to report that the first National Landlord Investment...
If interest rate rises weren’t enough to drive landlords out the...
Landlords play a crucial role in providing safe and comfortable housing...
.jpg)
Calling all landlords, Investors and property professionals: National Landlord Investment Show...
A recent survey by digital mortgage lender, Molo, revealed that nearly...
In the buy to let market, success goes beyond the transaction...
A council has prosecuted a landlord for letting out two HMOs...
The Labour-led government in Wales has issued a consultation proposing the...
Another council is looking for landlords with rental properties to match...
Another council is looking for landlords with rental properties to match...
.png)
Landlords and renters’ activists are at either end of the spectrum...
A prominent lettings sector expert is blaming the media for anti-landlord...
Who are you and what does it say on...
Who are you, and what does it say on...
Who are you? I am the Head of Broking for...
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
The government and councils are going to regret this, once these non payers are removed what landlord is going to touch them ever again, tenants with poor credit histories, no job, or an insecure job are going to struggle to find any landlord to take them on, still good news for the B&Bs that councils use to home the homeless, better an empty property than one with a feckless tenant in it
Will the banks be allowing those landlords with mortgages 'at least 9 months' time to pay as a result of tenants who find excuses not to pay? Unlikely.....
I bet the answer is an resounding NO!!!!!!
We just take the payment holiday. Its fine as the missdd payments are simply added in to the mortgage term.
My question is Why doesnt government pay the rent arrears and deduct a few quid each month from the tenant?
. Its a social issue, not a landlord created problem.
In which other industry can you refuse to pay for 9 months yet still enjoy the fruits of the service?
Being a landlord is a business, this is something that the government fail to recognize and each business relies on revenue. Why should a landlord provide a service to a client(tenant) that refuses to pay? if this were a builder he would be in the small claims court within days and he would more than likely get a payment.
Unfortunately the landlords are the scape goats for the awful decision to have sold off the council houses under a help to buy scheme and not reinvest the money into developing more properties, as it was written into policy originally.
Have you ever actually work in the real b2b world... You clearly haven't as youd know your statement was utter nonsense
Quite agree with you Phil. It is not a Landlord problem. It is a Gov problem. Gov must pay up not shift it on we who paid out to supply rentals..
I agree Phil, however there is nothing stopping you doing a ''money claim online'' just as that builder would do to a non payer .
We are tenants and paid our ent without fail. Our landlord wanted to sell after 8years of living there & promised he would never do this. Covid hit & we couldn’t move. He harassed us through the next 3 months to the point of putting the rent up by £120 a month! We had a bungalow to go to but the people in that are not paying rent, & working. We were hoping the eviction on them would happen by October so as my husband became poorly from our landlord harassing us we decided to moved into our caravan. We are now having to spend Christmas as the courts are messing our landlady about!!! So frustrating!!
Blame the likes of Shelter who protect the rent Dodgers who were preventing you from moving in - not your former landlord who was simply trying to run a business.
How many landlords does this announcement actually benefit? How many tenancies would there have been in existence with 9 months arrears prior to 23rd March where the tenant had not already been evicted?
Good question! Hardly any I would expect!
For me, they would have a CCJ on them as soon as 60/62 days of non payment had been reached.
Please login to comment