News: Landlords with Buy To Let Mortgages To Be Protected Via 3 Month Repayment Holiday As Government Sets Out Emergency Restrictions on Evictions Due to Covid-19

With the majority of Britons socially-isolating, there has been much discussion about what implications this has for tenants and landlords like.

Renters who don't work in jobs they can do at home are at risk of quickly falling behind on their rent payments and possibly losing their homes. On March 19th the prime minister responded to calls to provide urgent protection for tenants. 

What are the new regulations?

The new regulations were put forward in a daily briefing, then confirmed on the Government website.

They are as follows:

• Emergency legislation to suspend new evictions from social or private rented accommodation while this national emergency is taking place
• No new possession proceedings through applications to the court to start during the crisis
• Landlords will also be protected as three month mortgage payment holiday is extended to Buy to Let mortgages

So what does this mean for landlords?

This is an unprecedented situation, so naturally many people – tenants and landlords alike – are concerned about how the emergency measures may affect them.

Landlords will feel uneasy hearing that they cannot evict tenants for not paying rent – this is a large source of income (especially for portfolio landlords) and in the midst of this period of uncertainty, stability in income is highly valued.

According to the Government announcement, landlords with buy-to-let mortgages will be protected by the government via a three-month mortgage holiday.

So, while landlords may be in a position where they are not gaining income from their rental agreements if tenants are unable to pay due to COVID-19, they will not be losing money in mortgage payments for the this set time period.

This is a short-term solution in a very fluid situation where the government are rolling out unprecedented changes each day. There is nothing to suggest what will happen in the long-term, but considering the measures currently being introduced, those with buy-to-let mortgages will be protected going forward by government regulations.

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