Residential Eviction Moratorium To End

Yesterday the Government announced that the moratorium on enforcement agents evicting tenants under a possession order will end on 31st May.

Courts themselves will continue to prioritise the most serious cases, such as those involving fraud or anti-social behaviour, but there are a host of Possession Orders (some granted before lockdown started) just waiting to be enforced by bailiffs.

Notice periods

During the pandemic most notice periods were raised to six months, however from 1st June 2021 these will reduce to four months. The plan is to return to pre-Covid levels from 1st October, subject to public health advice.

Notice periods for cases where there is four or more months’ of unpaid rent will reduce to 2 months’ notice from 1 August 2021.

Serious cases

Notice periods for the most serious cases that present the most strain on landlords will remain lower:

• Anti-social behaviour (immediate to 4 weeks’ notice)
• Domestic abuse in the social sector (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
• False statement (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
• Over 4 months’ accumulated rent arrears (4 weeks’ notice)
• Breach of immigration rules ‘Right to Rent’ (2 weeks’ notice)
• Death of a tenant (2 months’ notice)

White paper on changes to the sector

The Government has also announced that a white paper will be published in the Autumn, setting out proposals to create a "fairer private rented sector", including the abolition of Section 21 evictions and a new ‘lifetime deposit’.

Oliver Kew

For enquiries regarding residential evictions please contact Oliver at o.kew@hewetts.co.uk

Published on 13/05/2021