Tenants far and wide are extremely happy after hearing the recent government’s announcement that it is stopping winter evictions, however according to Mary-Anne Bowring group managing director at Ringley, renters and landlords should do their best to join forces in these worrying times.

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Court proceedings for evictions throughout England and Wales restart on September 21st after the six month delay due to coronavirus pandemic.

The government announced new measures on 10th September that evictions will not be undertaken by bailiffs within any lockdown areas that have restrictions on numbers of people at any time in a home, this came into law on September 14th.

The government has also instructed bailiffs that they are banned from carrying out evictions over the Christmas period unless the action warrants it because of the serious issues of anti social behaviour and domestic abuse.

The government as of yet has not provided details of when the ‘winter truce’ starts or finishes in England and Wales.

The new regulations have been introduced so that tenants who are deemed as vulnerable will not be evicted during the pandemic.

Bowring said: “There’s no doubt that thousands of renters that are suffering financial difficulty will be happy to hear the news from the government around the winter period and will now feel more secure in their homes.

“With all of the uncertainty going on at the moment, tenants deserve to be protected by the government from evictions that could be through no fault of their own, and could well be down to financial hardship brought on by being furloughed or losing their job altogether.

“However, it should be noted as recent research pointed out that the majority of landlords are trying to work with their tenants to resolve any issues such as rent arrears.

“Tenants and landlords should be working together in what is a difficult time for everybody, and should not use the eviction ban as an excuse to mistreat the property they live in or withhold rent if they are not in a genuinely financially difficult situation.

“Some renters may need more financial assistance from the government but cancelling rents or getting the government to pay would be hugely damaging.”