Mar

Leading Labour MP calls for emergency legislation to stop Coronavirus-linked evictions

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Labour MP Tulip Siddiq is urging the Government to immediately outlaw all no-fault evictions so that tenants don’t lose their home as a result of the disease.

Writing in The House,
the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn says low
income private renters are already living precariously and need the option to
defer rent payments.

Siddiq believes the impact of coronavirus could be
devastating for many working families, 60% of whom are just one paycheque away
from losing their home.

“Statutory Sick Pay of £94.25 won’t come close to
covering the cost of rent for most tenants in London. A shocking 63% of private
renters have no savings at all, so the loss of a job or income as a result of
the virus could mean many thousands are unable to pay rent.”

Renters will not be able to self-isolate if they don’t
have security in their homes, she adds.

“The ending of private sector tenancies has become the
main single cause of homelessness – the Government must ensure that people
aren’t being forced onto the streets as a result of coronavirus.”

She writes: “It may seem tragic that it takes an epidemic
like coronavirus to fix these inequalities but if there are opportunities in
this situation to improve the plight of the low income private rented sector,
we should seize them and act now.

“We must scrap Section 21 and outlaw all ‘no-fault
evictions’ urgently. We must also look at other ways of improving the private
rented sector, including better standards, properly funded enforcement, longer
tenancies, a register of private landlords and rent controls.”

The Labour Party has just published a proposed draft Bill to ban evictions of tenants who fall behind on rent due to coronavirus. It wants the Government to adopt emergency legislation to protect families.

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