Coronavirus (Covid-19) information for letting agents and estate agents during lockdown

Landlord Action's Legal Director, Tim Frome, talks to Goodlord's Oli Sherlock about how possession cases are faring since the reopening of the courts, with insights from on the ground for letting agents and landlords who are going through the new process.

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The situation with Covid-19 is rapidly changing and this article will continue to be updated throughout. For the latest guidelines, please refer to gov.uk.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until 30 April 2021, with furloughed employees to receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, in order to support businesses as much of the country is put under Tier 3 restrictions. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has also confirmed that he would be extending the government-guaranteed Covid-19 business loan schemes until the end of March.

This situation is rapidly changing and this article will continue to be updated throughout. For the latest guidelines, please refer to gov.uk.

Letting agencies can continue to operate and viewings and house moves can take place during the second national lockdown, which begins on 5 November and will continue until at least 2 December. Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020, activities in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property have been made exceptions to the "stay at home" guidance.

Bailiffs have agreed not to enforce court orders against tenants living in areas where Tier 2 and Tier 3 Covid-19 restrictions are in place. Eviction proceedings can still take place in the courts.

Robert Bolwell, Senior Partner at Dutton Gregory, which manages the ARLA Propertymark Legal Helpline, answered letting agents questions on Covid-19's impact on the possession process in a Goodlord webinar. Click on a question to jump to the answer or watch the webinar on-demand now.

1. How would you summarise the key changes for people who haven't yet had to use the courts since they reopened?
2. If you have a case that's been stayed, how do you kick start that process again?
3. How long will it take for cases to be looked at if there aren’t significant arrears?
4. When it does mean you're going to be physically in front of a judge if you are pursuing a possession claim together with a claim for rent arrears?
5. If there aren’t any arrears, do you need to provide a Covid-19 statement with the paperwork or only when requested?
6. How much notice does the tenant have to give to the landlord's agents?
7. Do we have to change the wording on section eight notices around the grounds for rent arrears?
8. What do I do if I've got rent arrears now of five months? Do I serve a notice now for six months’ expiration date or do I wait till they go over the six month mark?
9. Can you get ahead of the game by submitting a claim to the courts before the notice is expired?
10. If a section 21 notice has been issued and the tenant has now fallen into a periodic tenancy, and there has been since then a revised TDS certificate. Does that revised certificate somehow revoke the section 21 that happened beforehand?
11. How could the Tenant Fees Act impact payment plans?
12. What do you do if you haven't heard a peep out of your tenant? 
13. What impact do you think Covid-19 might have on the courts if a tenant starts to argue that actually that process has been affecting the tenant?

A legal expert for ARLA Propertymark has said letting agents and landlords should consider serving a second Section 8 notice if rental arrears accrue to more than six months of missed payments, even if their original Section 8 has yet to come into force. This is because of a crucial change at the six months of arrears mark, when the notice period for tenants drops from six months to just four weeks.

This article was published on 24 September 2020. Although we endeavour to keep our Covid-19 content as up to date as possible, the situation is rapidly changing, so please ensure you refer to gov.uk for the latest advice and information.

A six-month Job Support Scheme will be introduced on 1 November to help protect jobs in businesses facing lower demand over winter and provide support after the furlough scheme ends. The new scheme is one of several measures announced by the Chancellor as part of the Winter Economy Plan to support workers and businesses, which includes extending the grant scheme for self-employed workers, tax payment deferrals, extending applications and introducing flexible repayments for the coronavirus loan schemes.

Landlord Action's Paul Shamplina joined Goodlord's Oli Sherlock in a webinar, Everything you need to know about the pre-action protocol, to discuss the latest developments in eviction proceedings, including the serving of notices, reactivation notices, and the wider effects of the changes over the past six months. 

Demand in the student lettings market reflects the ebb and flow of university semesters but is historically strong, and tends to encourage longer 12-month lets. The pandemic and the subsequent closure of universities disrupted this traditional sequence of events, and continues to cause uncertainty as the new term approaches. “Universities are still being very vague,” says Neil Bharakhda, Regional Manager at Leicester-based property management company, Set To Let. “We get the impression that they’re also sceptical about filling course spaces - potentially they may find not enough students to carry out a course for the entire year.”

There’s no getting away from the fact that we’ve just been through a few of the strangest and most challenging months of our lives. And it’s not like things are exactly back to normal now. However, we have seen some  positive developments emerge from the  pandemic at Elevation Lettings and within the industry at large.