26th
Jan 2021
The activist Renters Reform Coalition group has demanded that not only should court possession case hearings and bailiff evictions be stopped, tenants should not have to suffer court possession orders during the Coronavirus pandemic.
It states that because of the enormous backlog of possession cases which when awarded in the landlord’s favour, tenants will have to suffer an inordinate amount of stress to find out their fate during the pandemic.
Bridget Young, a spokesperson for the Renters Reform Coalition, wrote to the Guardian Newspaper: “A full eviction ban means pausing all court proceedings, as well as bailiff action. Renters should not be forced to attend proceedings that may put their health at risk”.
However many physical eviction proceeding are being held online but Young states in her letter that tenants should also not be required to log into the proceedings.
“Online proceedings can put renters, especially the many affected by vulnerabilities and inequalities, at a serious disadvantage” she says in her letter.
The Renters Reform Coalition is urging and demanding that the government scraps section 21 evictions "and create a system within which renters feel empowered to stand up for their rights.”
The coalition is made up of eighteen groups, which include Shelter, the National Union of Students, the London Renters Union and the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The coalition is led by Generation Rent which is headed up by Baroness Alicia Kennedy.
Young’s letter to the Guardian says: “Since the first lockdown, one in three renters have lost income, and an estimated 840,000 are in arrears, meaning many more people could be at risk of eviction now than in March 2020.”
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