From tomorrow, 1st June, the eviction ban that has protected tenants against enforced bailiff evictions for over a year will begin to come to an end.
For the past 14 months, landlords have not been allowed to evict tenants for underpayment of rent, but as of tomorrow, this will no longer be the case as the world continues its return back to normal as the COVID-19 pandemic shows signs of dissipating.
While 1st June does not mark a complete return to pre-COVID norms, the current 6-month warning that tenants must be given before an eviction will instantly drop to 4 months. As the country continues to move back to normality, this will return to the standard 2 months.
The biggest concern for many tenants now is the impending risk of homelessness. Tenants have been well protected during the pandemic at the expense of many a landlord’s income. Said landlords will now be desperate to start generating a steady rental income again so tenants who are struggling to pay rent will be at risk of eviction.
Sadly, these tenants who cannot afford to pay rent are not going to be any more able to pay rent after being evicted. This could leave them struggling to find decent, safe accommodation. As such, there is now grave concern that thousands of people face homelessness in the coming months.
Stephanie Boyce is the President of the Law Society of England and Wales, and she is among those people in and around the property industry calling for proper and appropriate legal aid support for tenants now facing homelessness, saying:
“While all efforts should be made to keep tenants and landlords talking and to ensure court litigation is undertaken as a last resort, caution should continue to be exercised around replacing legal advice with mediation. While the cases of Covid-19 have significantly reduced, the economic impacts of the pandemic continue. A balancing of tenant and landlord rights, therefore, needs to continue to be undertaken.”
