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Protect renters from ‘coronavirus evictions,’ Labour demands

LABOUR today renewed calls for emergency legislation to protect renters affected by coronavirus from eviction, after six million households were revealed to have no savings to fall back on.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £350 billion support package for the economy on Tuesday, offering some help for homeowners through a mortgage holiday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the Commons today that legislation will be brought forward to help protect private renters from eviction, but no legal guarantee has yet been given that social renters will be protected.

The demand came as Shelter revealed that an NHS hospital worker was threatened with eviction by a live-in landlord scared that he would catch coronavirus from tenants.

The worker is one of tens of thousands of renters who could lose their homes during the Covid-19 outbreak if the government does not move quickly to protect them, Shelter warned.

More than 50,000 households could face eviction through the courts over the next six months, but this number could increase, the charity said.

Shelter reported that it is receiving calls daily from renters who have been told that they will need to leave because of the outbreak. It wants the government to amend legislation to halt all possession orders and bailiff warrants.

Shadow housing secretary John Healey urged ministers to assure renters that they would not lose their homes. “Renters are more likely than homeowners to have no savings to fall back on, so the need for clear legal protection is particularly important,” he said.

“Labour has published draft legislation which would stop coronavirus evictions. Ministers must adopt this now.”

The Scottish government was urged to go further after it confirmed that it had contacted social landlords urging them to be “flexible” in the coming months.

Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell outlined legislative measures that the SNP administration will seek to put in place in the coming days to protect tenants in Scotland.

Laws governing the private rented sector in Scotland could also be changed, with Ms Campbell proposing that landlords will only be able to evict a tenant if they are in arrears for six months — up from the current three — and decisions will not be upheld if they are related to benefit delivery.

But MSPs from Labour and the Greens said the measures were not sufficient, calling for rules to be changed to halt all evictions temporarily.

Labour’s Pauline McNeill said that she wanted to see a zero-evictions policy for all tenancy types during the crisis.

The Greens’ Andy Wightman said that he was aware of  people threatened with eviction and that the government should suspend evictions on all grounds during the pandemic.

A petition by tenants’ union Living Rent, signed by thousands, is calling for an emergency halt to all evictions and a “rent holiday” for tenants affected by the pandemic.

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