18th
Feb 2021
The Generation Rent charity is telling the government that it should put public cash into a Covid Rent Debt Fund to clear all tenant rental arrears stacked up because of the pandemic.
Baroness Alicia Kennedy, director of the campaign, says: “The government’s measures to increase support through the benefits system have failed to prevent half a million households racking up rent arrears, which will be impossible to pay back even when the economy recovers.
“While most are not at immediate risk of eviction, they are still being forced to pay the price of the pandemic and face the prospect of homelessness without further action. To get these people back on their feet, we need Rishi Sunak to step in and clear these arrears with a Covid Rent Debt Fund.”
Baroness Kennedy made her opinions known prior to a House of Lords debate - now a cross-bench on the current evictions ban.
She disputes that the government has not resolved the issue of the £360m rental arrears which is putting many tenants at risk of eviction in the near future.
The charity is urging the Chancellor to include in his month’s budget to set up the Covid Rent Debt Fund to wipe out the arrears with £288 million.
Generation Rent states that in August 2020, there was an increase of 36% more private renters having to apply for and become reliant on the Local Housing Allowance for rent payments compared to February 2020.
The charity also claims that there are around 538,000 tenant households in England that do not receive enough allowance to pay their rent.
The campaign’s statement says: “As well as being grounds for eviction, rent arrears can also lead to a County Court Judgment which makes it more difficult to find a new home, and damage your credit score which can make it difficult to apply for mobile phone contract or credit card in future.”
It also adds the point that under its proposed Covid Rent Debt Fund, “the government would clear renters’ arrears, keeping them in their homes, while allowing landlords to apply for compensation up to 80 per cent of the original monthly rent.”
The campaign’s last statement regards concerns of landlords not only having their debts cancelled but also of their property rights and states that “legal experts have backed Generation Rent’s proposal as a proportionate way of dealing with debt that balances the interests of landlords and tenants.”
Despite this claim there is no mention of who the legal experts are.
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