National housing charity Threshold answered an average of one call every 20 minutes from private tenants facing eviction in the first nine months of the year.
The charity’s impact report for the third quarter of the year detasils how an average of 472 private renters a month, who were facing eviction, sought assistance from Threshold between January and September.
Between July and September, Threshold supported a total of 8,835 households and prevented 1,121 households from entering homelessness, including 1,758 adults and 1,185 children.
On behalf of private renters, advisors handled over 12,000 phone calls and more than 2,500 webchats about tenancy-related concerns.
During this time, 1,384 private tenants who had received a notice of termination from their landlord — 60% of which were issued because the owner wanted to sell the premises — turned to Threshold for assistance. 46% of notices, according to Threshold Advisors, were bogus.
"More than half of the inquiries Threshold received in the first nine months of the year were about tenancy termination and security of tenure. This volume of inquiries exceeded what was received on the same subject during 2021 and was more than twice what was received in 2020, according to Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty.
The number of rental properties and housing options for households facing eviction are declining due to a significant outflow of landlords from the private rental market, according to McCafferty.
Given the severe circumstances, it was necessary for the government to enact a prohibition on evictions to enable the implementation of short- and medium-term solutions to address the escalating rental issue.
Right now, evictions are prohibited until the first day of April 2023.
All quit notices issued during the emergency ban's duration will be postponed, according to the law, until at least the end of March 2023.
Tenants can still get notices to vacate while the prohibition is in place, but they won't be able to be evicted until the ban is lifted.
The date on which the notice was issued and the length of the tenancy are two elements that will determine when these evictions really occur.
Additionally, it means that notices of intent to quit issued before to the ban's implementation won't be implemented until at least 1 April.
However, according to the Department, there won't be a "cliff-edge" on April 1. Instead, evictions after that date will be implemented gradually between April 1 and June 18, depending on the date the notice was issued and the length of the tenancy.
McCafferty stated that it is "extremely critical" that the government use the period of this eviction moratorium to design and execute policies that would both lower the rate at which private renters are served with eviction notices as well as enhance the supply of safe, affordable housing.
