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Tens of thousands of private tenants in England and Wales could risk losing their homes when the ban on evictions ends today.
Tenants have been protected from eviction during the pandemic through a ban announced in March that was later extended, meaning that anyone who receives an eviction notice since August 29 has a six-month notice period.
But according to the campaign group Generation Rent, up to 55,000 households that received notices between March and August do not enjoy this protection.
The National Association of Residential Owners said it has encouraged landlords to “work with their tenants to maintain leases whenever possible.”
But he added that it was important to start addressing the “most serious cases,” including tenants who engage in antisocial behavior and domestic abuse, or with rent arrears that “have nothing to do with COVID-19.”
The Labor Party has called for protection measures to be expanded and has warned of a winter homeless crisis, while the Local Government Association has said city councils are “concerned that the end of the ban may see a It increased in
helplessness “.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We have taken unprecedented action to support tenants by prohibiting evictions for six months, preventing people from having financial difficulties and helping companies pay wages.
“To help keep people in their homes during the winter months, we have changed the law to increase the notice periods to six months and introduced a ‘winter truce’ on the enforcement of evictions for the first time.
“In addition, we have put in place a social safety net of almost £ 9.3 billion and increased local home allowance rates to cover the lowest 30% of market rents.”
