The Government provided detailed guidance targeted towards residential landlords to protect the interests of their tenants during these testing times. The Government has refocussed attention on the U.K. economy and have shown determination in sticking to the roadmap to end social distancing provisions. With vaccines being administered at a staggeringly fast pace, the country is slowly returning to a form of pre-Covid-19 normality. That said, those benefiting from the comfort of the moratorium on residential evictions will soon be hit by the consequences of their inability to pay rent.
The moratorium preventing enforcement agents from enforcing residential evictions (extended on multiple occasions) is now set to end on 31 May 2021. Enforcement agents around the country have been prevented from carrying out evictions during the pandemic. The courts will be facing a backlog of claims by landlords to evict tenants who have failed to pay their rent. In order to attend to the most serious cases first, the court will be prioritising cases involving anti-social behaviour or fraud. The end of the moratorium is set to reignite the enforcement agency workforce with several landlords wanting to evict their tenants.
Landlords’ obligations to serve notices of eviction on their tenants prior to the eviction will remain in place. Previously, the notice periods had been increased by the Government in attempt to delay the possible evictions of tenants impacted by Covid-19. These notice periods will be decreased from 1st June 2021, although, other notice periods will not be returning to the pre-Coronavirus timescales until 1st August 2021.
If you are a landlord, or a tenant experiencing issues addressed within this article, please feel free to contact John Szepietowski or Kay Stewart on 01372 303 444 or email admin@audleychaucer.com .
