Research into pandemic rent arrears published

Back in July SAL members were invited to take part in research being carried out by the University of Glasgow into how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected landlords. The research sought to identify how landlords have dealt with arrears, gauge views on the effectiveness of temporary legislation and support schemes, and identify intentions as we emerge from the pandemic.

The research report, which cites SAL data on tribunal evictions pre and mid pandemic, has now been published and can be read here.

The report concludes that the pandemic has had a significant impact upon the PRS (both tenants and landlords) and that while UK wide fiscal support measures have allowed most tenants to continue to pay their rent as normal, part of the burden of sheltering tenants from the impacts of the pandemic has been borne by landlords in the form of unsustainable mounting arrears.

Among the researchers’ recommendations is that notice periods should be returned to their pre-pandemic position from March 2022 as the current timeframe for evicting a non-paying tenant “appears to be disproportionately unfair to landlords”.

 Findings will be shared with UK and Scottish Government policy makers, local councils and service providers to allow them to make data led policy decisions and effectively plan the resources required to support both landlords and tenants.