AQW 24996/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 01/11/2021
Answered On Date: 16/11/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities whether there are any plans to review legislation in relation to the eviction of tenants.

Answer:

In response to the current pandemic, I have written to social landlords to ask that the “no eviction” agreement for Covid-19 related rent arrears currently in place within the social housing sector continues to 4 May 2022.

The Private Tenancies (Coronavirus Modifications) Act (NI) 2020 also continues to 4 May 2022 and imposed on landlords the requirement to provide tenants with a 12 weeks’ “Notice To Quit” period.

A Private Tenancies Bill, currently progressing through the Assembly will introduce further changes to Notice to Quit. As part of a programme of longer term work to reform the private rented sector, I will consider the possibility of creating grounds for eviction, upon which stakeholders will be consulted.