LATEST: Councils reject landlord criticisms of evictions ban extension

The Local Government Association (LGA) has rejected claims by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) that the evictions ban exposes victims of domestic violence and anti-social behaviour to more risk.

Since the NRLA story broke this morning, the LGA has issued a statement insisting that its members back the ban because police powers can still be used to evict perpetrators of domestic violence despite the evictions ban.

The NRLA claimed that landlords were ‘powerless to take action against tenants committing domestic abuse or making the lives of fellow tenants or neighbours a misery’ during the ban.

Ben Beadle, Chief executive of the NRLA, said earlier today that extending the evictions ban is not without victims and that it “leaves landlords powerless to tackle the kind of behaviour that causes untold suffering and hardship for many communities and tenants alike,” he said.

But Councillor David Renard, the LGA’s housing spokesperson, says he is pleased that the government is banning evictions until the end of August because it will “help to mitigate against the rising homelessness pressures that councils are under as a result of the pandemic”, he said.

“For victims of domestic abuse, other options including police powers, enable perpetrators to be removed from the home while the victims remains living there.”

A Domestic Abuse Bill is currently going through parliament which seeks to create a statutory definition of domestic abuse and establish a Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

The will stand up for victims and survivors, raise public awareness, monitor the response of local authorities, the justice system and other statutory agencies and hold them to account in tackling domestic abuse.

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