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Tenants flood Citizens Advice website searching for rent arrears advice

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
23/07/2020

The temporary ban on evictions ends in August, leaving many tenants in arrears fearful of the future

Thousands of tenants are searching for help to deal with rent arrears on the Citizen’s advice website, the charity has revealed.

Between April and June Citizens Advice recorded almost 33,000 page views on its website page ‘dealing with rent arrears’, soaring by 330 per cent on the same period last year. Website views on its ‘Get help with renting costs’ rose by 62 per cent to 40,998.

The charity believes that many private renters will need financial support to pay back their rent arrears or risk losing their homes.

Protections against evictions, put in place by the government at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, will end in August, unlike financial support for mortgage borrowers who can take out payment holidays until the end of October.

Previous research by Citizens Advice revealed that 36 per cent of private sector renters have seen their income fall by 20 per cent or more – higher than the average of 26 per cent for all tenure types.

Dame Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “The dramatic jump in the need for advice on rent arrears should be a warning sign for the government that many people are deeply worried about the possibility of losing their home.

“Renters have been particularly vulnerable to the economic effects of Covid-19, yet protections for them run out sooner than many of the other measures to help people struggling, including those for mortgage payers.

“Many renters won’t be in a position to repay arrears built up due to coronavirus. Without help, they risk losing the roof over their head through no fault of their own.”

Banks are already bracing themselves for the risk that rental voids could be on the horizon when the government withdraws its job retention scheme at the end of October. Research carried out by BDRC BVA found that 1.7m renters expected to lose their jobs this year because of coronavirus.

Lenders are carrying out additional checks into landlords’ personal income and employment status to check that they have the means to cover rental voids should their tenants be unable to pay.