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Eviction ban until mid-March introduced by Scottish Government

An eviction ban has been introduced by the Scottish Government to take effect until well into the New Year. 

Because of the timescales involved in Scotland, this effectively means no actual eviction will take place until mid-March. 

The devolved administration says in a statement that the move will give extra protection to tenants during the Coronavirus pandemic, will reduce the burden on local authorities, and will also make it easier for people to self-isolate if they choose to form extended bubbles during the relaxation of restrictions over Christmas.

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Housing Minister Kevin Stewart says: “We took early action to, in effect, halt eviction action until March 2021 due to the pandemic. We have supported tenants throughout this difficult period through a number of actions including increasing our Discretionary Housing Fund from £11m to £19m to provide additional housing support and shortly we will introduce our Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.

“We are now taking this additional, temporary step after carefully assessing the unique housing situation created by the pandemic.

“A temporary ban on carrying out evictions will give additional peace of mind to tenants over Christmas and into the new year. It will also prevent additional burdens being placed on health and housing services, during a time where they are already working hard due to the impact of the pandemic.

 

“It will allow tenants who are facing eviction, and may decide to take the opportunity to form extended bubbles over the festive period in line with relaxed guidance, time to effectively self-isolate afterwards should they come into contact with a positive person.

“Where there is evidence of serious anti-social or criminal behaviour, including in cases of domestic abuse, evictions can still proceed as normal.” 

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 is an emergency law to protect renters in Scotland during coronavirus. The temporary law applies to all eviction notices issued on or after April 7 2020. The original end date was September 30. The Scottish Parliament has extended the law until March 31 with some changes to notice periods.

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    LLs don't generally evict good tenants so who are these people who are being protected and why? There is absolutely no chance of evicted anyone at the moment who is not hugely in debt so where is the support for the LL in all this?

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    As you say, good tenants don't get evicted.

    What the loonies don't seem to get is that they're encouraging rogue tenants to defraud landlords - and depriving decent rent-paying tenants from getting these homes.

     
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    This is just totally taking the p now!
    We LL can’t keep these tenants forever to save the council’s the cost and hassle of homing them.
    Why can’t the councils pay us directly for their rent arrears
    I think LL are going to start taking the matters into their own hands soon can only take so much

     
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    @Lia, at present all my residential tenants are paying, however in the 90s I had been known to take matters into my own hands, if the need arises I will do so again, and so will many other landlords.

     
  • James B

    Unbelievable they have hung landlords landlords out to dry for a full year housing defaulting tenants

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    Take the burden off the housing services and pile the pain on landlords. I don`t like my government but Scotlands is no better. I like the way he says we have supported! Its not you lot paying for it!

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    They have only supported the rent dodgers and in so doing are preventing decent tenants from renting from decent landlords.

    The SNP know that financially astute landlords won't vote for them, whereas the rent dodgers, who won't have to pay the price, will always support them and their politics of envy and false grievances. They are a lot worse than the UK government.

     
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