Yesterday evening the government announced a package of measures to protect tenants and landlords.
Emergency legislation will be passed to prevent private sector landlords from issuing possession proceedings for at least a 3-month period. The government has also announced that the mortgage ‘holiday’ offered to homeowners will also apply to landlords with a buy to let mortgage.
On the expiry of the 3-month period the government expects landlords and tenants to reach an agreement on any repayment plan. In order to ensure that this meeting of minds takes place the pre-action protocol which applies to social landlords commencing possession claims will be amended to apply to the private sector as well so that positive action by the landlord becomes a prerequisite to any such claim.
Guidance is also expected which asks landlords to show compassion to tenants who may be at risk of losing their homes.
This announcement does not come as a surprise. Unfortunately, we do not at present know if it will impact on possession claims that have already been issued. Given that the courts are likely to close, especially over Easter, it is likely that current claims will be delayed in any event even if not covered by this emergency legislation.
A further post on the pre-action protocol and guidance will follow.
Disclaimer
The contents of this blog post is not legal advice and is provided for general information purposes only. If legal advice is needed readers should contact a solicitor. No responsibility for any information contained within this post is accepted and PainSmith solicitors accepts no liability in respect of the contents or for action taken based on this post.
Published 19 March 2020
