Rented Housing: Coronavirus
(asked on 3rd December 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of households that have fallen into rent arrears with (a) private landlords and (b) social housing providers as a result of the covid-19 outbreak, in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England; and what steps his Department is taking to protect renters during the covid-19 outbreak.
The Government has put in place an unprecedented financial package, which is supporting renters with their housing costs. This includes support for businesses to pay staff salaries through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been extended until March 2021. We have also boosted the welfare system, including increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by up to £1,040 for the year and increasing Local Housing Allowance rates so that they cover the lowest 30 per cent of market rents. For those who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments are available. As announced at the spending round for 2020/21 there is £180 million for local authorities to distribute in Discretionary Housing Payments for supporting renters with housing costs in the private and social rented sectors.
Under the Coronavirus Act 2020, landlords are required to give tenants 6 months’ notice except in the most serious circumstances such as anti-social behaviour, fraud and arrears of more than 6 months. Housing possession cases were suspended in the courts from 27 March until 20 September. Landlords are now once again able to progress their claims, and the most serious cases are being prioritised by the courts. To further protect tenants, the Government has changed the law to ensure bailiffs do not enforce evictions in England until 11 January 2021, except in the most serious circumstances such as illegal occupation, anti-social behaviour or rent arrears of more than 9 months accrued before 23 March.
The Department does not currently hold information on the number of households within the private and social rented sectors that have fallen into rent arrears in Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands and England as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Regulator of Social Housing’s quarterly survey report for July to September 2020 (which is based on regulatory returns from private registered providers and private registered provider groups that own or manage more than 1,000 homes) shows that mean current tenant arrears stood at 3.98 per cent at the end of September. The equivalent figure in the same quarter of 2019/20 was 3.71 per cent. This information is for private registered providers in England and does not include local authorities. The report is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/quarterly-survey-of-private-registered-providers
We are carrying out a data collection to gather information on the impact COVID-19 is having on local authority finances. Data from these returns indicate that Housing Revenue Account residential rent arrears for local authorities for April to October 2020 is estimated at £101.265 million.