Petition calls to freeze rents, S21 and S8 for Covid-19 outbreak

Petition calls to freeze rents, S21 and S8 for Covid-19 outbreak

15:15 PM, 16th March 2020, About 4 years ago 15

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Acorn, a Left Wing community based union of working class people, is petitioning the government to:

– Enact temporary rent freezes for renters suffering with the virus or self isolating for the period of their self isolation and recovery

– Announce an emergency freeze on all current section 21 or section 8 evictions

– Announce an emergency freeze on all applications for section 21 or 8 evictions

– Announce an emergency freeze on evictions of housing association and council tenants

– In line with the above, decree that any period of time spent in self isolation or ill with Coronavirus will be disregarded in section 8 hearings and not counted in the ‘over 2 months of arrears’ threshold. ACORN commits to fight landlords that attempt to evict tenants for non-payment of rent as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Acorn activist have in the past aggressively picketed letting agent offices and claim: “Major UK banks are already announcing mortgage and payment holidays for mortgage holders, so BTL landlords are already seeing protections developed against losing their assets during the outbreak should their tenants not be able to pay the rent.

“There are 2.5 million private landlords in this country, and the security and safety of renters cannot be left to each individual landlord’s good will. The UK government must act to ensure that renters who are forced to self isolate will not risk eviction from their homes, or incur rent arrears that for many people will take weeks if not months to pay off.”


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Comments

Kathy Evans

14:22 PM, 17th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by BB at 17/03/2020 - 10:11
We had a group weekend cancelled by the hotel (well, they say postponed) and they aren't giving the deposit back although they are refunding the rest of the fee

12:16 PM, 18th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by BB at 17/03/2020 - 10:19
you'ld be suprised how little care tenanats have forttheir landlords well being.

12:18 PM, 18th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Steve Masters at 17/03/2020 - 10:24
I agree, perhaps a social credit system to reward landlords who do their bit would help the nation win this war.

BB

13:01 PM, 18th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by at 18/03/2020 - 12:16If I have correctly desiphered your encrypted post.... somehow doubt I would, I ve been in this game since mid 1990s.

Freda Blogs

13:14 PM, 18th March 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by at 18/03/2020 - 12:16
Why do you say that Eugene? It’s a very sweeping generalisation.

I think you’ll find that most of the landlords in this forum are caring, and most are not large companies, they are individuals (also being hit by a huge range of government measures which are rapidly diminishing their income), so any rent concessions will be a financial hit to them personally and many simply cannot afford it after paying mortgage and other necessary property costs, including utilities and council tax in some cases.

My own view is to be compassionate where appropriate; many of our tenants will continue to be paid – whether university students, corporate employees or on benefits, so where then is the case for rent concessions? We have seen on another thread where tenants are just “trying it on“ to get a rent reduction.

I think we can safely say however that most landlords would prefer to keep their current tenants, assuming they have a good payment history and look after the property, as no landlord wants a void. Each case should rest on its own merits. Some landlords may be able to afford giving rent concessions, others not and there is no one size fits all – although that’s what I fear the government is about to introduce...

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