Government set to extend the eviction ban, by one month

The ban, which was announced in March and extended in June, was due to end in England and Wales next week – however it will now run until the end of September.

According to the housing charity Shelter, some 174,000 renters had been warned by their landlord that they are facing eviction, and 58,000 moved out after being asked to leave during lockdown.

Polly Neate, the chief executive for Shelter says that without the ban, any renter who has built up eight weeks worth of arrears can be automatically evicted, with authorities “powerless” to intervene.

She said: “The knock-on effect of this will be really severe. It’s not something that we’re going to see next week, but it’s something that we’ll see in the coming months, as winter sets in and around Christmas time. That’s when we could see lots of people being evicted.

“If we’re entering into a deep recession, this is not the time that we want to risk having thousands of people approaching overstretched homelessness services that cannot hope to provide them with the safe homes they’ll need.”

While an official announcement is yet to be made, a Government spokesman said: “We are working on how best to continue supporting renters and landlords during the pandemic and will make an announcement on the next steps shortly.”

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