The government has confirmed that it will not extend the ban on landlords evicting renters beyond 23 August.

Renters across England and Wales received greater protection last month after the government extended the suspension of new evictions until 23 August, taking the moratorium on evictions to a total of five months. 

The move was designed to ensure that renters continue to have certainty and security during the Covid-19 pandemic. But with the government now easing lockdown measures, the aim is to transition out of these measures at the end of August to allow the market to operate while ensuring people have appropriate access to justice.

Responding to a series of parliamentary questions yesterday, Lord Greenhalgh, a junior minister at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, confirmed that from 24 August “the courts will begin to process possession cases again”.

The vast majority of landlords have worked with vulnerable renters over the past few months, offering people invaluable security in these turbulent times, but most will welcome the end of the ban on evictions.

While the tenant eviction ban has helped renters that are suffering financial difficulty, it has left landlords powerless to take action against renters committing domestic abuse or making the lives of fellow tenants or neighbours a misery.

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: “Extending the evictions ban is not without victims. It leaves landlords powerless to tackle the kind of behaviour that causes untold suffering and hardship for many communities and tenants alike.” 

He added: “These cases must be given top priority by the courts and their processes enhanced to avoid further delay once they start to deal with possession cases.”