Tenancy evictions will be banned again during England's second national lockdown, it was revealed – following questions by Erith and Thamesmead’s MP.

Abena Oppong-Asare asked Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, whether his department had issued guidance to local authorities on banning the eviction of people living in local authority housing during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.

The Labour MP put the question to the government on Monday (November 16) and received confirmation on Thursday (November 19) that the law had been changed to once again ban tenancy evictions – as was the case in the first national lockdown.

The full government response read: “On 16 November we changed the law in England to ensure bailiffs do not enforce evictions over this period of national restrictions or the Christmas period.

“This means that no eviction notices may be served until 11 January and, given the 14 day notice period required, no evictions are expected until 25 January at the earliest.

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“The only exceptions to this are for the most serious cases, such as anti-social behaviour and perpetrators of domestic abuse in social housing.”

In a follow-up statement, the Erith and Thamesmead MP welcomed the news.

She said: "I have been supporting constituents at immediate risk of eviction over the past two weeks.

“This news will be an overwhelming relief to these constituents, including one person who was due to be evicted today.

“It is immoral and dangerous to evict people during a pandemic. Millions of people are struggling financially due to losing jobs and income.

“On top of this there is a huge health risk of evicting people right now and the Government has done the right thing by responding with a ban on evictions.”

Guidance for landlords, including local authority landlords, can be found here.

Guidance for social landlords on understanding the possession action process can be found here.