Landlords supportive of tenants inoutbreak

The not-for-profit, accreditation body, safeagent, has published research showing that with the support of letting agents, there should not be widespread evictions as a result of the pandemic.

A survey of safeagent firms across England saw 36 per cent say that they didn’t believe any tenants would be evicted when the ban ends and more than half said it would be less than 10 per cent.

Asked for possible reasons why tenants would face eviction, agents said it was not down to arrears built up during the pandemic, but instead planned proceedings or non-payment of rent before March 2020.

In terms of arrears, 74 per cent of respondents said that the proportion of their tenants who have not been able to pay their rent over the past three months was less than 10 per cent and eight per cent said none of their tenants were in arrears.

The majority of tenants were only behind by one or two months rent and the highest causes of arrears were because tenants were self-employed or furloughed, while others were waiting for Universal Credit.

Asked about the proportion of landlords who have been sympathetic and willing to help tenants affected by Covid-19, by offering rent reductions or payment plans, almost half of firms said 75-100 per cent of their landlords were willing to help.

Isobel Thomson, safeagent

Chief Executive, said: “These results show that the rhetoric emanating from lobbying groups around arrears and the likely number of tenants to be evicted as a result of their inability to pay rent, does not give the full picture.

“We know times are hard, but we also know how much good work is being done by agents and landlords to maintain tenancies.”