Citizens Advice calls for greater protections for renters following coronavirus legislation

Dame Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:

"Last week, the Housing Secretary pledged 'no renter who has lost income due to coronavirus will be forced out of their home'. These measures fall woefully short of that promise.

"Simply extending notice periods to three months cannot be seen as 'job done'. It means that people dealing with unimaginable financial uncertainty still face the prospect of being served with an eviction notice.

"Over the coming days, the government must keep their promise and add to these changes to make sure no one loses the roof over their head as a result of coronavirus."

Notes to editors

  1. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government homelessness statistics showed that 18,860 households have lost their homes in the past year due to rent arrears. 44% of those were due to a reduction in employment income, or a change in personal circumstances.

  2. Last year Citizens Advice helped 200,000 people with housing problems - including 60,000 private renters.

  3. People can find frequently updated advice on a range of issues related to the Coronavirus outbreak at citizensadvice.org.uk/coronavirus .

  4. The availability of face-to-face services will be affected during the outbreak. If people need to speak to someone for advice, they should check our website for the status of their nearest Citizens Advice.

  5. Citizens Advice will continue to offer advice over the telephone on its Adviceline - 03444 111 444 - as well as online chat with advisers. Anyone seeking to make a new claim for Universal Credit should call the Universal Credit Help to Claim line on 0800 1448444

  6. Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

  7. Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free.

  8. We helped 2.7 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2018-19. And we had 29 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

  9. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 21,000 trained volunteers, working at over 2,600 service outlets across England and Wales.

  10. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.