The Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, announced today that renters cannot be evicted from their homes for at least three months, even if they have been ‘unable’ to pay their rent.

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The minister said the emergency laws will stop landlords in England and Wales from evicting renters. Tenants’ unions, charities and campaigners had repeatedly told the government that the virus will cause tens of thousands of renting households being unable to afford to pay their rent.

It is very likely that the measures will be fast tracked allowing tenants to be able to relax until the middle of June, however the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have said: “....landlords and tenants will be expected to work together to establish an affordable repayment plan, taking into account tenants’ individual circumstances”.

New government’s guidance for landlords will be asking them “to show compassion” and let their tenants stay in their accommodation “wherever possible”.

However the London Renters Union unsurprisingly are far from content and have said that the new measures should be far more stringent; this is in light of Tuesday’s announcement that property owners would be helped by not having to pay their mortgage if encountering difficulties.

Amina Gichinga, spokesperson for the LRU said: “If landlords can get a payment holiday, why won’t the government also implement a suspension of rent payments we must suspend rents, not defer them. Otherwise the end of the coronavirus crisis could mean the beginning of an evictions crisis.”

The announcement follows social landlords stating they would not evict any tenants who were finding it difficult to pay their rent.

Chief Executive Kate Henderson, of the National Housing Federation, said: “No one should be evicted because of the coronavirus. We are confident that no housing association will do this, and want anyone affected by the outbreak to be reassured they will not be evicted.”

A tenants and community union Acorn has over the last few weeks gathered 15,000 signatures for its petition to Boris Johnson urging him to release new laws to protect tenants.

Figures show that during 2017-19 tenant households stood at 19% (4.5 million) of all housing which was twice as many in 2002.

Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter’ said it would no doubt “come as a great relief to many people.

“Without this decisive action, tens of thousands of renters would have been faced with eviction in the coming months, while potentially trying to isolate and protect themselves and others.”

An industry association fully supports Jenrick’s new measures and issued a statement that included a warning: “There does need to be some flexibility … such as with dealing with a tenant engaging in antisocial behaviour. This could cause misery for fellow tenants or neighbours, especially when they are going to be spending a lot of time together.”

The association is also asking the government to put into place “a temporary halt on enforcement action where landlords are unable to fulfil certain required obligations because of the health risk posed to them, tenants and contractors”.

Richard Merrick of PIMS, said: “ There is no doubt at all that the three month holiday period will be extended, the majority of tenants are honest however there are evictions still in the judicial process of which the majority will be for rental arrears.

“It’s somewhat amazing that there is always money available to pay for phones.”