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 updated guidance, Understanding the possession action process: A guide for private landlords in England and Wales, published on 27 November 2020, what plans he has to continue to ensure that bailiffs do not enforce evictions in areas under tier 2 and tier 3 restrictions after 11 January 2020.

During this unprecedented time, the Government has taken steps to ensure housing possession enforcement activity is conducted safely and in accordance with the public health measures in place, to reduce the spread of Covid-19. On 16 November, the Government laid the Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction and Taking Control of Goods) (England) Regulations 2020. These regulations prevent enforcement agents from enforcing residential evictions, other than in limited circumstances, until 11 January 2021. Given that a minimum of 14 days' notice is required, no evictions are expected to be enforced until 25 January 2021 at the earliest. We continue to keep the position regarding enforcement of evictions following 11 January under review.

We also legislated in August to increase notice periods to 6 months in all but the most serious circumstances so that most tenants served notice now, would not be asked to leave their home until at least June 2021. This applies across all local tiers.

These new measures provide a balanced approach to protecting public health and supporting the most vulnerable renters whilst ensuring landlords can access and exercise their right to justice.