The ban on bailiff-enforced evictions for private renters has been extended in England and Wales.
This will be until February 21 “at least” according to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick; the ban will be reviewed at that date.
Landlords or agents acting on their behalf will still be able to enforce possession orders if tenants are more than six months in arrears irrespective of when the arrears accrued and therefore no longer have to pre-date Covid; however, these will go to court but cannot be enforced by bailiffs.
The exceptions to the ban still apply as before - in the relatively small number of cases of domestic violence and anti-social behaviour, for example, bailiff-enforced evictions can take place.
The government has also announced a further initiative for the private rental sector.
A statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says: "A new mediation pilot will further support landlords and renters who face court procedures and potential eviction from next month (February). It will offer mediation as part of the possession process to try and help landlords and tenants to reach a mutual agreement and keep people in their homes.
"Helping to resolve disputes through mediation will enable courts to prioritise urgent cases, supporting landlords and tenants to resolve issues quickly without the need for a formal hearing. The mediation pilot will work within the existing court arrangements in England and Wales."
Anti-eviction campaigner Vicky Spratt took to Twitter almost immediately after the extension was announced to say the ‘bailiff-enforced’ element of the ban was “not enough” - she called for a ban on possession claims by landlords as well.
Scotland extended its ban yesterday to last until late March.
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Anti-everuthing campaigner Vicky Spratt probably wants all tenant arrears forgiven and landlords to go bankrupt! Check her Wikipedia entry!
Don't think there is much probably about it. It seems that instead of the Govt' or councils paying rent for tenants in genuine trouble they just force landlords to let people stay for free almost as if they are an extra arm of the benefits system.
The system abusing landlords once again.
Absolutely criminal without any word on how landlords recoup their losses or on criminal charges against the feckless tenants taking advantage.
Surely this was absolutely inevitable given the current situation? The majority of tenants aren't feckless, just as the majority of landlords aren't greedy and amoral, and some will have been out of work for the best part of a year, or maybe they've lost their job, or are struggling in some other way through no fault of their own.
Landlords should definitely be supported - and have packages in place to help them - but I can't see how this was anything other than inevitable, given the actions in the previous lockdowns.
Colour me surprised! This was about the most predictable thing in a year of very unpredictable things, and should have been announced when lockdown 3.0 was announced. As others have said, the government were never going to be seen to evict tenants during a global pandemic - and the backlog of cases is huge anyway.
The government should have been more honest from the start, rather than giving landlords false hope. But, as usual, management of expectations is far from this government's strong suit.
I imagine most landlords and agents have planned for this, expecting that they wouldn't be able to evict until much later in the year, if at all.
Exactly, from a practical perspective nothing has changed. No Courts were about to start evicting people during this winter, and any possession orders granted would have been with forward dated eviction dates for the summer. Nothing to see here.
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