Extension to eviction ban and changes to substantial arrears

What are the latest changes to COVID eviction laws?

There are two main changes that will affect landlords and tenants that were announced on Friday 8th January.

1. The ban on County Court bailiff evictions was extended for six weeks.
2. The rules on evictions for historical rent arrears were changed.

When has the eviction ban been extended to?

The ban on evictions has been in place in one format or another since March 23^rd, and has been extended several times, usually following the extension of furlough or lockdown measures.

The ban on bailiff evictions was due to expire today (Monday 11^th January), but has now been extended for six weeks.

The ban on bailiff evictions will now end on Monday 21^st February in England, although this is of course subject to further extension at the Government’s discretion.

When are evictions permitted during COVID?

From September, evictions have been permitted for a handful of reasons, including domestic abuse, antisocial behaviour and substantial rent arrears. I wrote about these in more detail in a previous article that you can read here.

The other big change announced on Friday was to substantial rent arrears.

To read about this please click here for the full article.