Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of the Lord Privy Seal on 3 November 2020, Official Report, Column HL683, what plans he has to set out in detail what steps the Government plans to to protect renters facing hardship from eviction, and if he will make a statement.

The Government has established an unprecedented package of support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to support renters to sustain tenancies and continue paying rent. This includes a range of support for businesses to pay staff salaries, including through the furlough scheme which has now been extended to March 2021. We have also strengthened the welfare safety-net with over £9 billion boost to the welfare system, including an extra £1 billion to increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates so that they cover the lowest 30 per cent of market rents. For those renters who require additional support, there is an existing £180 million of Government funding for Discretionary Housing Payments made available this year, an increase of £40 million from last year and which is for councils to distribute to support renters with housing costs.

In addition, bailiffs have been asked not to enforce evictions across England whilst the new, national restrictions apply from 5 November. The only exceptions to this will be the most egregious cases, including cases of illegal occupation, fraud, where tenants have demonstrated anti-social behaviour or are the perpetrator of domestic abuse in social housing and where a property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant. We also intend to introduce an exemption for extreme pre-Covid rent arrears.

Together with the pause on enforcement of evictions over the Christmas period, this means bailiffs have been asked not to enforce evictions in England until the 11 January at the earliest, except in the most serious circumstances.

This builds on protections from legislation introduced in August to increase notice periods to 6 months in all but the most serious circumstances, meaning that most tenants served notice now cannot be legally evicted before at least May 2021.