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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on levels of homelessness of ending the eviction ban on 21 February 2021.

Legislation to ensure bailiffs do not serve eviction notices or carry out evictions in all but the most serious cases is currently in place.

Landlords are currently required to provide tenants with six months’ notice before eviction in all but the most serious cases, and the courts have put in place new rules and arrangements in possession cases to respond to the pandemic.

This Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to protect renters whose income has been affected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, to help prevent people getting into financial hardship, we have increased the local housing allowance rate to the 30th percentile of local market rents in each area. In addition, the furlough scheme has been extended until the end of April to support tenants to pay their rents.