There were two recent events of importance to the private rental sector. These were, first, the announcement on how the Government will take forward the various limitations on termination of tenancies and evictions which were introduced as a result of Covid-19 and were to expire at the end of May. Second was the Queen’s Speech, which included a component setting out some of the Government’s thinking on the future of the sector.

In relation to tenancy termination, the current ban on evicting tenants will come to an end at the end of May and will not be renewed. This means that any landlord with an existing court order for possession will be able to have it enforced and there will be little restriction on commencing new claims other than those caused by the huge amount of business that the court is trying to deal with. The court is still operating a different work model for possession cases and this is intended to run in its current form until the end of July. It is likely to be extended beyond that and run into the autumn. These procedures, however, are largely intended to use court time effectively and prioritise resources to specific case types, and that is likely to be more embedded into the processes going forward.