Covid eviction threat: reprieve for renters in England and Wales

Renters in England and Wales facing eviction after falling behind on rent during the coronavirus pandemic are to be given a one-month reprieve.

The government has ordered a rule change that means courts will continue not to hear repossession claims by landlords until 20 September.

The move was welcomed by some renters as “an enormous relief” and by others as “kicking the can down the road”. But some landlords described it as “unacceptable” and said they were being left “to foot the bill for government failure”.

Renters have been protected during the Covid-19 crisis by a temporary government ban on landlords evicting tenants, announced in March and extended in June. It was due to end on Sunday and courts would have restarted eviction hearings from Monday.

Related: ‘I was thinking dark thoughts’: homeless during lockdown

The lord chancellor requested the extension of the ban on Thursday and it was approved by the civil procedure rule committee on Friday morning in a meeting that noted the “extremely unusual nature and timing” of the government decision.

Landlords in England will also be required to provide tenants with six months’ notice, rather than three currently, until at least the end of March, unless the case involves a serious issue, such as antisocial behaviour or domestic violence. When cases do resume, courts will prioritise the most serious cases involving antisocial behaviour and other crimes, and those where rent has gone unpaid for more than a year and landlords would otherwise face unmanageable debts.

The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “I know this year has been challenging and all of us are still living with the effects of Covid-19. That is why today I am announcing a further four-week ban on evictions, meaning no renters will have been evicted for six months. I am also increasing protections for renters: six-month notice periods must be given to tenants, supporting renters over winter.”

As states across the world ordered citizens to “stay home” in February, the UN housing rapporteur was unequivocal. “Housing has become a frontline defence against coronavirus,” said Leilani Farha. She called on states to “declare an end to all evictions of anyone, anywhere for any reason until the end of the pandemic.”

Four months later, and as parts of the world emerge into the so-called new normal, her successor, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, is warning of an “impending tsunami” of evictions. In the US, a majority of states have resumed evictions, leaving as many as 40 million – disproportionately people of colour – vulnerable to homelessness due to rent arrears.

Bailiffs are back in business across the channel, too, after an extension to France’s winter eviction ban expired last month. In Paris, the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has protected social renters by extending the eviction ban on public housing to 31 October – protecting them until next summer by segueing into next winter’s trêve hivernale.

Some countries are doing more. In Spain, where the leftwing Podemost party are part of a governing coalition, the government has introduced an eviction ban that will remain in force until six months after the end of the state of emergency. An interest-free micro-loan scheme is open to renters who have lost income due to the pandemic.

Strong protections are also in place in Germany, where renting is widespread and renters’ unions are well-established and powerful. In March the federal government banned the eviction of tenants who fall behind in rent between April and the end of September, while giving itself the discretion to extend the measure for another six months. Landlords can still take tenants to court to recover lost rent.

For millions, though, the situation remains bleak and uncertain. Thousands in poorer countries such as Kenya and Brazil were being thrown out of their homes even as the pandemic raged, Rajagopal reported. He warned that when people are deprived of shelter, they become more vulnerable to COVID-19 “and this heightens the risk of widespread contagion.”

“I call upon all States to comply with their human rights obligations and ensure that no one is left in a position of increased vulnerability to Covid-19,” he said.

Damien Gayle

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said the “11th-hour U-turn” was necessary. But he described the extension as so brief it “will simply give renters a few more weeks to pack their bags”.

“Boris Johnson has been warned for months about the looming evictions crisis, but stuck his head in the sand,” Starmer said. “People living in rented accommodation should not be paying the price for this government’s incompetence.”

The move was described by the London Renters Union as “kicking the can down the road”.

“We’ve had a series of short-term extensions, and that’s caused enormous misery and stress for renters like me,” said Ghazal Haqani, an organiser with the union. “Because so many of us are in arrears, we have been constantly worried for months that we are about to become totally defenceless against landlords who want to kick us out of our homes. It looks like that could happen all over again in September.”

The terms under which the ban will eventually be lifted remain unclear. One source said civil servants and ministers had been considering whether protections could remain in place for people who can show they have fallen behind on their rent because of coronavirus.

District councils have said up to half a million people could be at risk, while the housing charity Shelter said by the end of June about 174,000 renters had been warned by their landlords that they were facing eviction. Shelter estimated a quarter of a million renters were in arrears.

Doctors, represented by the British Medical Association, also warned of a potential surge in Covid-19 cases if the ban was not extended and homelessness increased, with homeless people more likely to have health conditions that increase their vulnerability.

The National Residential Landlords Association attacked the government’s decision.

“Landlords have been left powerless in exercising their legal right to deal with significant arrears unrelated to Covid-19, antisocial behaviour and extremely disruptive tenants who make life miserable for their neighbours and housemates,” said Ben Beadle, the chief executive. “There must now be a plan to support households to pay their bills and to compensate landlords fully for their lost income.”

But Alicia Kennedy, the director of the campaign group Generation Rent, said the move was a relief to worried renters, although leaving it so close to the deadline had put people through “untold mental stress”.

Generation Rent wants the government to use the coming weeks to develop emergency legislation to restrict the use of section 21 “no fault” evictions, as well as eviction for rent arrears, ready for introduction after parliament returns from summer recess on 1 September.

Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, said: “A bullet may have been dodged with this extension, but as soon as parliament returns, it must give judges extra powers to stop renters being evicted because of ‘Covid-arrears’.”

Two of England’s biggest private landlords told the Guardian they did not plan mass evictions. Fergus Wilson, who owns hundreds of homes in and around Ashford in Kent, said he was expecting his agents to issue two eviction notices. “One is a poorly organised man and the other downright dishonest,” Wilson said.

Andrew Panayi, who runs a business renting out several hundred flats and houses in north London, said: “No eviction notices will be served in the foreseeable future.”

The National Housing Federation, which represents social landlords and housing associations, had also said no one would be evicted as a result of financial hardship caused by the coronavirus as long as residents made contact with their landlord to agree a manageable way forward.