Impact of Coronavirus on Renters

Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about the impact of coronavirus on renters. This pandemic is placing unprecedented demands on household finances with social distancing measures closing entire sectors of the economy. At this stage, with no clear end to the lockdown, I believe we must urgently find ways to strengthen the safety net to prevent renters from sliding further into hardship.

I believe the Government must act now to strengthen the social security system by ending the five-week wait for housing benefit and suspending the benefit cap so that everyone can access the emergency support they need. While Ministers have raised Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to cover the 30th percentile of local
market rents, I believe they should go further by raising LHA to cover average rents to ensure that nobody is made homeless as a result of any fall in income during the pandemic.

Jobs and livelihoods will take time to recover, and if evictions are allowed to restart before people can start earning again, we could see an unprecedented spike in homelessness. I supported calls for the Government to extend its ban on evictions and I welcome that Ministers have heeded these calls.

Nevertheless, I recognise that many tenants are concerned about what will happen when the temporary ban on evictions is lifted at the end of August. I will press the Government to bring forward proposals to abolish Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and outlaw evictions on the grounds of arrears if they are due to hardship caused by the COVID-19 emergency.

I also believe Ministers should ensure that those tenants who cannot afford to pay because their income has
fallen due to COVID-19 can defer payment if necessary, and to legislate for a more manageable two-year period for renters to pay back any deferred rent.

In the long term we urgently need stronger rent regulations, as well as more affordable and social housing. In the short-term, I believe the measures outlined above will help to prevent people losing their homes because of the necessary COVID-19 measures.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this important issue.

Yours sincerely

Peter Dowd MP