Rent Reviews & Evictions Update 2021
Evictions: An eviction moratorium is in place from the 31st December 2020 and is due to expire on 10th February 2021 (31st January plus 10-day grace period).
This legislation has been re-introduced as a result of the return of 5km restrictions on people’s movements.
Please note any time there is a 5km restriction imposed on people’s movements in line with public health restrictions, the moratorium on evictions (with limited exceptions) will automatically kick-in.
The RTA 2020 also introduces a 10-day grace period for ending tenancies, which means the earliest anyone can be made to leave their accommodation during this emergency period is 10th February 2021.
Landlords can still serve a Notice of Termination as usual during an Emergency Period, subject to certain exceptions, but the notice period cannot begin to count until an Emergency Period is lifted.
Any termination notice that has already been served is extended by the duration of the emergency period. It is effectively paused during the Emergency Period.
Rent reviews: Similarly Rent Reviews have also been paused for the duration of the Emergency Period. If your rent was due to increase or decrease on January 28th it would not increase now until the Emergency Period is lifted.
Separate to that, there are protections for tenants who have been impacted by Covid-19. The PDRTA provides that if a tenant’s ability to pay rent has been impacted by Covid-19 during the period from 1 August 2020 up to and including 12 April 2021 and a tenant meets specific criteria, then new procedures and protections apply.
Mainly these tenants rent cannot be reviewed upwards and they cannot be evicted before 12th April 2021.