ARLA Propertymark has reiterated its demand for the government to give financial support to the private rental landlords.

In its submission to HM Treasury ahead of next month’s Budget it says the best way to sustain tenancies is to make sure tenants can pay their rent.

This “is why the UK government must introduce a financial support package to reduce Covid-related rent arrears” it states.
It echoes the calls of tenant organisations when it goes on to say: “Further support is needed to help tenants who have built up Covid-19 related arrears through no fault of their own. We recognise that there has been support from the UK government for many tenants, but this has not always met the full cost of rent and has not reached all tenants.

“Furthermore, to date there has been no direct financial support for the rental market, with individual landlords unable to access small business grants or bounce back loans.

“To this end, in September, our Private Rented Sector Report showed an increase in the number of landlords selling their buy-to-let properties and the figures are the highest we have on record for the month of September.”

It continues by saying that in October it revealed 53 per cent of letting agents thought that support from the UK Government in helping with rent arrears and preventing evictions had not been effective, with only 12 per cent thinking it had been very effective.

“The nature of the coronavirus crisis requires a one-off intervention to address specifically Covid-19 related arrears. This will enable both tenants and landlords to continue the tenancy and support tenants to remain in their homes” ARLA tells the Treasury.

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