by Bethany Rielly
News Reporter

RENTERS could be at risk of losing their homes from next week if the government fails to extend the ban on bailiff evictions, housing campaigners warned today.

The government’s winter truce on evictions comes to an end on January 11.

Housing charities and campaigners are urging ministers to extend the ban throughout the third national lockdown, warning that it would be “too dangerous” to evict people while Covid-19 cases are so high.

The truce, introduced on December 11, bans bailiffs from enforcing eviction notices. 

The protections for tenants are weaker than the eviction ban which existed from March to September 2020 which also suspended court proceedings. 

Generation Rent is calling on the government to reinstate the full eviction ban on both court proceedings and bailiffs.  

The group’s director, Alicia Kennedy, said today: “The rapid escalation of Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the new variant means that we must do everything we can to stop the spread of the virus.  

“During the first lockdown, renters who had received an eviction notice still felt pressure to move out which is why we’re calling the government to do all it can to prevent unnecessary house moves by suspending evictions. 

“The government must also stop landlords from issuing eviction notices in the first place.”

Generation Rent is also calling for measures to help tenants afford their rent payments and avoid falling into arrears by raising local housing allowances and scrapping housing benefit caps. 

Research by the group in November estimated that 538,000 households in Britain are unable to cover their rent with their benefits.

The economic fallout of the pandemic has taken a huge toll on people’s ability to afford payments, with 840,000 private tenants estimated to be in rent arrears, according to the National Residential Landlords’ Association.

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said: “You cannot follow the order to stay at home if you are evicted and facing homelessness. 

“It’s not safe for people to attend court, nor is it safe for bailiffs to enter people’s homes and forcibly remove them. 

“Now is not the time for people to lose their homes: their only refuge from this raging storm.”

Responding to the calls to extend the ban, a government spokesperson said: “We are reviewing the measures currently in place and will provide more detail shortly, taking into account public health advice.”