Eviction orders are being presented to tenants who no longer have rent arrears due to the pandemic despite a promise by Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, that no renter who lost their income because of the coronavirus will be evicted of their home.
Several members of the London Renters Union were among those who are facing the first court proceedings just after the government quietly updated its eviction ban the last month to allow landlords in dismissing tenants who had no capacity to pay as a result of the pandemic.
One example, an actor on a working visa in the UK, said they were about the become homeless because they had no alternative to public funds.
Another one said that after some years as a model tenant, due to the unemployment at the beginning of the pandemic would mean that they had to find emergency accommodation.
A recent report in the Guardian stated that until the month of January, landlords can not evict their tenants because of rent due amassed since March the first month of lockdown.
Landlords could only act if the nine months’ balance had increased before the pandemic. The revised rules – billed as a lengthening of the eviction ban has dropped that exemption for balance accrued in the pandemic and lessen the length of balance that would allow for eviction to six months.
It means that if tenants could not pay their dues from the middle of August landlords could request court orders to have them evicted.
The national community union whose focal point is on renters rights, also known as Acorn, said it was deeply worried about the loophole, that it claimed to make a mockery of the promise of promise Robert Jenrick that no person would lose their homes because of Covid.
Last month, families more than 750,000 were late with their rental payments and the pandemic rent debts rises to £375m, as per the Resolution Foundation.
The NRLA or National Residential Landlords Association requires the government to provide indebted tenants with interest-free loans, however, the London Renters Unions advised that if they can’t afford to pay with their rent, then how can they pay for the loan?
An actor Victor Yuan who lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic when he was admitted to the hospital with Covid, had the convictions of his eviction set.
He had managed to withstand the landlord’s efforts to have him evicted but when the rule was amended, he was left without any defence.
He requested on Jenrick to restore the protection for those who were unable to pay their dues as a result of Covid, adding up that as he was with a working visa in the UK and so had no alternatives to public funds, the council’s team for homelessness prevention could not aid him with housing.
Not even can he acquire Universal Credit payments.