20th
Aug 2021
Generation Rent’s Baroness Alicia Kennedy’s recent ‘flight of fancy’ when saying the government figures on the number of evictions between April and June “represents a small number of renters who have faced eviction.”
The director’s responded to the government publishing figures that stated 1,516 evictions were carried out in England and Wales in the second quarter.
The Baroness said: “These figures are a huge increase on the previous quarter, despite restrictions on evictions by bailiffs only being lifted in June. But this still only represents a small number of renters who have faced eviction.
“There are thousands more who have lost work and got behind on their rent during the pandemic, and will find it difficult to repay that, even if their income recovers. It is almost impossible to move to a new home if you’re relying on benefits, so these renters face huge uncertainty in the months ahead while they wait to be told when the bailiffs will arrive.
“Only a Covid Rent Debt Fund to clear these rent arrears will help renters back to their feet and remove the threat of homelessness from thousands of families. The government must act urgently to relieve this hardship.”
A lender recently released its research which suggested that on average landlords have 1.3 tenants in rental arrears, surprisingly this is at its lowest figure since the beginning of 2011.
The figures show a drop in rental arrears from 1.6 tenants per landlord at the start of the year with number of tenants behind in rent constantly falling since the high of 2.1 in the second quarter 2020 due to Covid.
Additionally the average amount of rental arrears is now the lowest in four years.
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