Guidance to Understanding the Possession Action Process - Coronavirus Act 2021
The impact of the Pandemic has been devastating for so many different sectors of society including the rental market, both private and social. Little under a year ago, the Government made changes to the notices periods required for the service of the 2 most important notices used in housing along with significant amendments to possessions proceedings, in particular, delaying evictions throughout the most of 2020 and into 2021.
As the country looks towards relaxing Lockdown restrictions, the Government has published a new guide for landlords and tenants in England and Wales and is focused on landlords letting to tenants on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy or an Assured Tenancy.
The guide will help you to understand what rights and responsibilities of the landlord when needing to use the courts to take possession of a rental property.
Before taking steps to recover possession of a rental property, the landlord or letting agent should consider discussing any underlying problems with the tenant, either directly or through a mediation service, and try to resolve these without recourse to court action.
Further changes to Notice Periods and Evictions
Today Robert Jenrick, Housing Secretary made a further announcement that the six-month notice periods and bailiff enforced eviction bans will be extended to 31 May 2021 to protect residential and social tenants as the country moves through the roadmap. The Housing Secretary announced that the Government has - "taken unprecedented action to support both commercial and residential tenants throughout the pandemic – with a £280 billion economic package to keep businesses running and people in jobs and able to meet their outgoings, such as rent. These measures build on the government’s action to provide financial support as restrictions are lifted over the coming months – extending the furlough scheme, business rates holiday and the Universal Credit uplift."
Changes to Notice Periods One Week on
Friday afternoon on the 4th September was a bit strange. Why? The two previous Fridays the Housing Secretary made announcements which were extremely important and had an impact on businesses across England.
It is difficult to understand why these pivotal announcements are made late Friday afternoon, one of which was the Friday before a bank holiday weekend. Would it make any difference if it were a Monday or a Wednesday? May be, may be not, however, it is important to understand that these changes require a certain element of “change management”. It is not a simple as swapping one document for another, there are quite critical points to consider.
1. Understanding the “Why” behind these changes - cynics, conspiracies, anti-landlord bodies, we have read about the aforementioned over and over again. However, we must look at things from a different perspective - public health and homelessness. We know what we have witnessed and experienced to date, therefore the Government are thinking “worse case scenario” and the possibility of a second-wave over the winter months. Where will that leave housing provision and homelessness? Many people understand that the Government does not want another overwhelming burden as a result of Covid-19, however, the Government have not factored into the equation the impact of these changes on landlords.