The government has been urged to freeze rent for people who can’t work and are struggling to pay their bills during the coronavirus pandemic.

A petition calling for a “rent holiday” and to protect tenants from the threat of eviction has gathered more than 3,000 signatures, piling pressure on the housing secretary Robert Jenrick to act.

In the Budget this week, chancellor Rishi Sunak laid out a £12bn package of emergency measures to support businesses and workers through the crisis but it included no help for private renters who make up nearly a fifth of the British population.

The Acorn union, which supports tenants, workers and residents, launched a petition this week urging the government to enact temporary rent freezes for renters suffering with the virus or self-isolating for the period of their self-isolation and recovery.

The group also wants an immediate halt on section 21 and section 8 evictions.

A section 8 eviction is used where a tenant has fallen into arrears; a section 21 can be instigated by a landlord for no reason and often gives the renter just two months to vacate the property.



Acorn also wants a commitment that local authorities will not attempt to evict anyone for not paying their rent because they were off work due to coronavirus infection or self-isolation.

Millions of people are either self-employed, working on zero-hours contracts or likely to be entitled only to statutory sick pay of £94.25 if they cannot work, meaning there is a risk many will not be able to pay their rent.

The UK’s sick pay is among the least generous in the industrialised world, amounting to just 20 per cent of the median wage. Across Europe, statutory sick pay averages 65 per cent of median earnings.

The pandemic is also shining a light on the UK’s renting rules which give tenants fewer rights than in many other European countries.

At the same time, several high street banks have said that they will offer repayment holidays to people who are unable to pay their mortgage as a result of the pandemic. Acorn argues that renters should be offered the same leeway.

Prem Sikka, a professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, said the government had provided “basically nothing” in the Budget to help the less well-off who may struggle financially because of coronavirus.

“They said they would refund businesses for statutory sick pay of £94.25 a week for 14 days,” Professor Sikka said. “That’s not going to even cover the rent on its own.

“A lot of families are in private rented accommodation. It is often overcrowded, they will find it impossible to self-isolate.

“For council tenants there is an easy solution which is the government pays money for rent over to the council.

“For private renters it’s more difficult – you have a whole variety of tenants from poor to posh. Help needs to be targeted at the poorer end.”

He suggested doing this by using data the government already has on who is claiming in-work benefits.

“The government needs to take charge and say, ‘We’ve asked you to isolate so we will help you.’”

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Another method of getting help to people that need it most would be providing an additional one-off payment to universal credit claimants, Pro Sikka said.

“This kind of financial help will be very beneficial to the economy because those who have less money tend to spend all of what they have on goods and services.”

Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant and campaigner who runs Tax Research UK, believes any private renters who contract coronavirus should be able to live rent-free for up to three months.

He wrote in a recent blog post: “Far too many people have too few savings to survive major periods of economic inactivity without massive prejudice to their short-term and long-term wellbeing.”

“Should the epidemic spread then as a matter of statutory right any tenant should be provided with a minimum three-month rent-free period to ease the stress upon them whilst this crisis lasts.”

“I would suggest that the grant of that extension should be automatic to anyone who does not make a due payment of rent on the required date during the period of the epidemic. They should be automatically granted this extension by the landlord without having to make any further application or to complete any additional paperwork.”

A government spokesperson said: “The government has always been clear that our priority is to put people first, which is why there is support in place to help affected people and minimise any social and economic disruption.