Following the announcements made by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 10 September 2020 (reported by us on 11 September 2020), we have today seen a letter dated 21 October 2020 from The Right Honourable Robert Buckland QC MP, the Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice, to Andrew Wilson, the Chairman of The High Court Enforcement Officers Association (“HCEOA”) indicating further bans on evictions in England.

The letter expresses an agreement with the members of the HCEOA to repeat the usual Christmas period moratorium on evictions (11 December 2020 through to 11 January 2021) but also not to carry out evictions at all in areas currently affected by the higher level of restrictions under the Local Government Covid Alert System.

The Lord Chancellor states:-

“Following the implementation of the new Local Covid Alert Level system, I am writing to clarify that under the new system in England, we would request that your members should instruct the enforcement agents working under their authorisation not to enter residential properties in areas that are classified as Local Alert Level 2 (high) or 3 (very high), for the purposes of enforcement, including taking control of goods and carrying out evictions.”

He confirms the agreement as follows:-

“I would like to thank you for confirming that 100% of your members had agreed to my request not to carry out evictions in areas where local lockdown restrictions placed restrictions on gatherings in residential properties and not to carry out residential restrictions anywhere in England and Wales over the Christmas period from 11 December 2020 until 11 January 2021.”

In short, if the area in which the property is situated is under current Tier 2 or 3 restrictions, your tenant will not be evicted until that restriction is lifted.

Many commentators are already suggesting that the request and agreement, which we are also told is to be adopted by County Court Bailiffs too, is of questionable authority and thus we will wait to see whether (or perhaps when) it is challenged.

There is no indication of how long these restrictions will be in place, which are ever increasing in number and which currently includes the entirety of London and Wales. Therefore this news will be received badly by those landlords whose tenants remain in property despite a possession order obtained potentially more than 6 months ago, or who will shortly be subject to a possession order now that the courts are once again able to make such orders.

This is certainly one to watch this space on but, for the moment, if your/your client’s property is in an area under Tier 2 or 3 restrictions, you are unlikely to be evicting the tenant for the foreseeable future. We will of course continue to report more on the matter as soon as we hear of further developments or changes.

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