CIH responds to government announcement on eviction ban extension and six-month notice period

On Friday 21 August, the government confirmed that the ban on possession proceedings in England and Wales will be extended until 20 September.

Responding to the announcement, CIH chief executive, Gavin Smart said:

“The government’s decision to extend protection so that households badly impacted by the pandemic do not fear losing their homes in the short-term is welcome, as is the requirement for a six-month notice period. Both will help to reduce the short-term risk of people losing their homes.

We hope that government will use the period of the extension of the moratorium to look to put in place a wider package of measures to address the issue for the longer term.

This should include:

• Removing mandatory grounds for eviction
• Improving levels of welfare support for renters to prevent households impacted by the pandemic from building up arrears in the first place
• Providing more help for landlords to mitigate the impact of lost rent e.g. mortgage holidays (with the requirement to pass on the benefit to tenants) and/or funding to support landlords faced with income shortfalls e.g. through an interest free loan scheme; and
• Ensuring that local authority housing and homelessness teams are properly supported and resourced to cope with possibility of increased numbers of evictions when the moratorium ends.”