The Coronavirus Bill is making its way through parliament today. The bill aims to bring in sweeping emergency measures to many aspects of the lives of citizens to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.
Specific measures have been proposed to restrict the ability of landlords of privately rented residential premises in England and Wales from seeking to evict tenants during the crisis.
In particular the bill seeks to:
- increase the period of notice a landlord is required to give a tenant under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 from 2 months to 3 months.
- increase the period of notice a landlord is required to give a tenant for certain arrears of rent under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 from 2 weeks to 3 months.
- increase the 3 month notice periods to 6 months if required.
The changes will be in force from the day after the Act is passed into legislation until 30 September 2020.
Although the new legislation will not apply to notices that have already been served, these proposed changes will have very real consequences for landlords who may now find themselves unable to obtain possession within the anticipated timescales. This could have unintended consequences, for example, where a sale of a property is conditional on vacant possession being obtained and the longstop date in the contract will pass before these measures are removed.
Further, we understand that it is likely the county courts will stop processing possession claims and we have heard from at least one county court that has suspended all bailiff evictions until June 2020 at the earliest.
These are unprecedented times and its clear the government intends to take drastic measures to protect those who may be most vulnerable to the crisis.
Landlords will understandably be anxious as to how this will affect their income stream. At a time when the courts are not going to give landlords the remedy they had planned, the advice is for landlords and tenants to work together to try and find a solution, whether that be rent deferment or payment by installments.
Should you require advice on residential landlord and tenant matters please contact Hollie Wright on 0203 755 5780.