The government Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced on Friday that existing legislation preventing the eviction of tenants throughout the COVID-19 lockdown would be extended for a further 2 months.
The initial three month suspension of evictions was due to expire on 25th June, but will now run until 23rd August.
Jenrick announced “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”
This move protects renters but does nothing at this stage to address the issue of rent arrears that may have been building through the pandemic, in which millions of people have either been furloughed or lost their jobs, and may have struggled to pay their rent as a result.
The government is being encouraged to look into ways to resolve such issues ahead of the lifting of the suspension of evictions, to protect both landlords from lost income and tenants from struggling with rent arrears and the looming prospect of eviction. We expect there to be more to come on this ahead of the 23rd August and will keep you updated via our dedicated COVID-19 page.
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