Shelter says it expects the current ban on bailiff-enforced evictions to be extended until at least the end of the present lockdown.
The ban is scheduled to end on Monday week, February 22, but on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme a charity spokeswoman, Ruth Ehrlich, said: “We certainly expect to see this ban on bailiff action extended for as long as this lockdown lasts, and indeed while there are restrictions on household gatherings indoors.”
She continued: “That [current ban] comes to an end on February 21 so we need confirmation soon. It’s simply not right that right now, when the virus is running rampant and so many jobs are at risk, that so many people are losing their homes.”
In the radio interview Ehrlich agreed with a representative of the National Residential Landlords Association - Meera Chindooroy - that landlords and tenants were in most cases working together to resolve individual problems.
The debate over the eviction ban comes as government figures suggest suggestions of a glut of evictions if the current ban is lifted are unfounded.
Data published by the Ministry of Justice shows that in the fourth quarter of last year the number of claims made by private landlords in England and Wales to repossess properties fell by 37 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.
This fall is despite the courts beginning to hear possession cases again following a six month stay on proceedings imposed earlier in 2020.
The number of possession claims made under the accelerated procedure - used by both private and social landlords - also fell by around 43 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
Overall, across the whole of 2020, the number of claims by private landlords to repossess properties fell by 48 per cent, with the number of claims made under the accelerated procedure fell by just over 52 per cent.
Despite the relatively reassuring figures, the National Residential Landlords Association is warning that the scale of rent debt engulfing the sector means that without further government support, landlords cannot survive indefinitely.
Research for the NRLA indicates that over 800,000 renters in England and Wales have built arrears since lockdown measures started in March last year.
The association is also calling for a package of hardship loans and grants for affected tenants to pay off arrears built since March last year, ensuring tenancies are sustained and preventing many renters facing the consequences of damaged credit scores.
You can hear the discussion on You and Yours here, around 35 minutes in to the programme.
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I think we all know that it will be extended, just a case of kicking the can down the road, at some point the landlords with bad tenants will be evicting, please it you have a nonpaying tenant make sure they leave with a CCJ to their name thereby protecting the rest of us.
Tenants who got paid furlough or were still working and took advantage by refusing to pay rent definitely apply for CCJ and make sure your network is aware of that they will be trying every trick out there to get into someone else’s property. Tell every agent and landlord in the county
It's ridiculous - everyone knows the ban is going to be extended, so what's taking them so long? It's like the quarantine hotels or the later lockdowns, everyone could see they were coming except seemingly the government. And they've been incredibly slow in announcing it. What are they waiting for?
I imagine most landlords and agents have already accepted that they won't be able to evict for the next six months or so, maybe even the whole of this year, and have made contingency plans accordingly.
Maybe we'll all be left shocked by there not being an extension, but I just can't see that happening. More decisiveness, like with the vaccine rollout, would be nice. Not this dithering and dilly-dallying for seemingly no good reason.
It calls Ehrlich a charity spokeswoman. Is she not a Shelter spokeswoman then? If not, why mention Shelter?
If she is a Shelter spokeswoman then she's not a real charity spokeswoman.
I wonder if she's on a six figure gravy train like her boss?
All charities pay their management 6 figure salaries that's common knowledge isn't it ?
But I don't regard Shelter as a charity. Calling it a housing charity is a double lie.
The charity (business) that houses no one. Should be exposed for the con that it is.
It is 6 figure madness!!!!
Shelter is not a Housing Charity, its an anti- Housing Charity, how can they be a housing Charity if they don't supply Housing. They are an ant-LL lobby Organisation lobbing against LL's who House People and get £15m pa tax payers money to help them to do this its crazy. We don't get anything only bullying, S24, S21 ?, Article 4, taxes, fines, Penalties, Licensing & Criminal Record for putting a roof over peoples heads off our own backs and financed by us at no cost to Government. Shelter & other Organisations who don't supply Housing sit on the fence throwing spanners into the works. £15m is the tip of the ice berg, public donations / begging letters like the one they sent me suggesting I could give them £16 / £50 or £100 or more some cheek. I understand they get £60m pa no tax. We are in the wrong Business and yes many Charity organisations or all pay themselves over £100k pa, if they were genuine people their Services should be almost Free.
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