The Law Society of England and Wales has come out in favour of the latest ban on bailiff-enforced evictions.
The extension to the ban was announced on Sunday morning, a week before the previous deadline was due to expire.
Law Society president David Greene says: “We are pleased that some tenants who would otherwise be facing eviction will be able to stay in their homes, particularly given the colder weather and the new variants of the virus. However, it should be noted that those with significant rent arrears are exempt from the ban, and as time goes on it is likely that more tenants will be evicted as a result of significant amounts of overdue rent.
“Eventually, fewer tenants will be protected by the ban and may become homeless, making it difficult to contain the virus.
“Funded early expert legal advice is vital to preventing unnecessary evictions and must continue to be available to all tenants alongside the mediation pilot, now deployed across all courts.
“While mediation certainly has its place in civil justice, particularly in light of the significant court backlogs, it must be ensured that access to justice through the adjudication process is not delayed.
“Informing tenants of their legal rights, such as benefit advice, could make a real difference to their ability to stay in their homes and not require the protection of the eviction ban.”
Meanwhile Isobel Thomson, the chief executive of industry accreditation service safeagent, says, “We recognise financial support for renters has been put in place to a certain extent by government, but shortfalls still exist between what the agreed rent at the start of a tenancy was and the amount tenants – whose circumstances have changed drastically through no fault of their own – can afford to pay.
“This comes at a huge cost to both tenants and landlords. Tenants have debt hanging over them with the anxiety that brings and landlords are struggling with financial commitments they must meet, particularly where properties are subject to buy to let mortgages.”
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Well this helps me at the moment as I had a section 21 near end of last year as my landlords has handed all his properties over to agency and retiring and my flat is the only one that hasn’t been refurbished in at least 10 years and also needs some major work like new bathroom floor that is going but wasn’t helped by my noisy neighbours upstairs shower leaking through !! I have been here over 7 years and always paid rent and kept self to self with my dog and on benefits but my landlord can get another £200 a month ish once work has been done. I was going to be looking this year for a ground floor as on first due to my dog having arthritis now and it’s not easy trying to find a suitable place !! But for the landlords that are owed rent and it’s piling up and they are having to pay the mortgage payments on the property or rely on the rent for something else this is a nightmare !! The noisy neighbours upstairs owe our landlord rent but he’s in a better financial position and has been ok although he was saying he had done me a favour putting a roof over my head for over 7 years !! Um I have been a paying tenant!!
..............as long as the Law Society is committed to paying all outstanding rent to private landlords ............ I support them.................please can they advise how tenants can apply to them to get money to pay their rent arrears................
Sounds like the woke brigade have taken over another organisation to me.
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