Renters will be protected during the national restrictions, with no bailiff enforcement action, the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced today (5 November 2020).

Measures, including the pause on evictions starting in December, mean evictions will not be enforced until the 11 January 2021 at the earliest, supporting individuals and families who have found themselves in financial difficulty through no fault of their own. 

The only exceptions to this will be the most egregious cases, including where tenants have demonstrated anti-social behaviour or are the perpetrator of domestic abuse in social housing, and the landlord rightly would like to re-let their property to another tenant. 

This builds on protections announced earlier this year, including 6 month notice periods meaning renters now served notice can stay in their homes until May 2021, with time to find alternative support or accommodation.

Courts will remain open through the new national restrictions. Court rules and procedures introduced in September will ensure protections for both tenants and landlords. These include the strict prioritisation of cases, such as those involving anti-social behaviour and other crimes. 

These protections are on top of the unprecedented package the government has put in place to help communities through the pandemic, including support for businesses to pay staff salaries and strengthening the welfare safety-net with an over £9 billion boost to the welfare system.

Housing Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

We have already taken unprecedented action to support renters during the pandemic including introducing a 6 month notice period and financial support to help those struggling to pay their rent.

We are now going further by protecting renters from eviction during the new national restrictions and throughout the Christmas period – with a pause on bailiff activity other than in the most serious circumstances, such as anti-social behaviour or fraud.

Striking the right balance between helping tenants in need while ensuring landlords have access to justice in the most serious cases.

For those renters who require additional support, there is an existing £180 million of government funding for Discretionary Housing Payments for councils to distribute to support renters with housing costs.

Whilst national restrictions apply, the only circumstances where these protections do not apply are illegal occupation, fraud, anti-social behaviour, eviction of domestic abuse perpetrators in social housing; where a property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant. We also intend to introduce an exemption for extreme pre-Covid rent arrears.

Thank you, Mr President.

I thank the High Representative (HR) and his team for his latest comprehensive report. This highlights that the International community still has a role to play in supporting a secure, peaceful and sustainable future for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) continues to have an important role to play in galvanising action by local authorities to create this future. It has the United Kingdom’s full support, including the use of executive powers should the situation require it.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, like nearly every other country, is now facing the challenges of responding to COVID-19. This will require continued focus and coordination by the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina at all levels as the number of cases rises. Despite these challenges, we are glad that preparation for the 2020 local elections has continued. Like High Representative Inzko, we commend the work of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Central Election Commission in the face of numerous political challenges, and support its endeavours to reduce risk of election fraud.

The UK would like particularly to welcome the agreement reached by the leaders of SDA and HDZ Bosnia and Herzegovina that enables local elections to be held in Mostar on 20 December for the first time since 2008. This breakthrough demonstrates the importance of cross-party and cross-community cooperation in propelling the country forward. We hope that all actors will support this important development and help the parties in Mostar to allow citizens to exercise their democratic rights.

I would also like to congratulate the OHR for its work in Brčko District. Its strong coordinated effort with the international community has continued to promote good governance, infrastructure development and private sector growth there. Collaborative work of this kind offers a potential model for reform elsewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ensuring citizens’ ability to exercise their democratic right is vital. We urge the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to redouble their efforts to address outstanding ECtHR judgments, most notably the Sejdic-Finci ruling, and to ensure that all Bosnia and Herzegovina’s citizens can exercise their fundamental democratic rights and participate equally in their country’s future. Whilst we look forward to a time when they will not be necessary, international judges in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Court continue to be a vital safeguard in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s judiciary.

We continue to share the High Representative’s frustration at the persistent threat of divisive nationalist rhetoric, even at a time when greatest solidarity is needed in the face of a global pandemic. With local elections imminent, we urge those responsible for these divisive statements instead to keep the citizens they were elected to represent at the forefront of their minds. Challenges such as migration, climate change and serious organised crime must be faced head on.

This year marks 25 years since the General Framework Agreement for Peace was signed, bringing an end to the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is important that Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international community find ways to mark the anniversary collectively, and look ahead to the positive and prosperous future that Bosnia and Herzegovina deserves.

This follows the commemoration earlier this year of the 25th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica. I would like, once again, to remember the many thousands of victims, and the continued suffering of the families, too many of whom are still missing their loved ones. We acknowledge the suffering on all sides of the Balkans conflicts, and it is only through meaningful reconciliation across communities that we can fully overcome the painful legacies of the past. We once again call for an end to the glorification of convicted war criminals and the denial of the Srebrenica genocide. This definition has been officially recognised by two international tribunals as well as domestic judicial bodies, and denial merely serves to reinforce the deep societal divisions which threaten to block Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress.

The UK continues to support reconciliation efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans more widely, including through our project programming and our role in the Berlin Process and Peace Implementation Council. We encourage Bosnia and Herzegovina to fully respect the rule of law, democracy, media freedom and human rights. We support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s continued commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration, and look forward to the submission of the next NATO Programme of Reforms.

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Individuals and organisations who could be affected by measures to restrict advertising and trading in and around Birmingham 2022 Games locations are being encouraged to provide their views on a number of proposed exceptions.

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act contains offences concerning unauthorised advertising and unauthorised trading in certain places at certain times. These restrictions will help ensure we deliver on our hosting commitments for the Games. They will:

• protect the rights of commercial sponsors, whose contributions help to offset the public costs of the Games
• ensure Birmingham 2022 Games locations and their surroundings have a consistent look and feel in line with Commonwealth Games branding
• ensure people can safely access the venues and the free flow of spectators

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is working closely with the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee and our Games partners to ensure we take a proportionate approach – one that protects the rights of commercial sponsors and ensures that spectators can move easily and safely around Games locations while minimising disruption to existing businesses.

The consultation will run from 5 November until 11 January. Responses will be used to inform potential exceptions to the advertising and trading offences which we expect to be brought forward in secondary legislation later next year. An ‘exception’ is a form of advertising or trading activity (for example, public transport services) that will not be caught by the advertising and trading offences in the Act.

The restrictions will be in place in and around specified Games locations at specified times, and will only be in place when and where necessary, but there is the possibility that the restrictions could apply at any time between 7 July to 13 August (a maximum of 38 days).

A list of the Games locations that we currently expect to be affected is included in the consultation document. In most cases, we would expect the restrictions on advertising and trading to extend no more than a few hundred metres around each location’s perimeter. However, in some circumstances, restrictions may need to extend further to ensure that designated walking routes and key transport hubs are taken into account.

This consultation does not address the timing or vicinity of the restrictions, as this will be driven by when and how Games locations are used and is the subject of ongoing operational planning. Once they have been finalised, the locations and timings of the restrictions will be set out in secondary legislation.

For more information on the proposals, and to respond to the consultation, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/exceptions-to-birmingham-2022-advertising-and-trading-restrictions

Background

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (28 July to 8 August) is an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Birmingham and the West Midlands on a global stage. The Games will deliver lasting economic and cultural benefits to the whole of the region and support in renewal and recovery post-Covid-19.

With around £350 million in potential procurement, local and regional suppliers are well placed to benefit. 76% of Organising Committee contracts for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games went to local businesses and the Games contributed more than £740m to the Scottish economy.

In line with similar legislation that was introduced for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the UK Parliament has passed the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act. The act provides a small number of temporary operational measures to help deliver a successful Commonwealth Games and satisfy the requirements associated with hosting a major multi-sport event. The act and its measures are key in ensuring the Games are delivered successfully and the West Midlands benefits economically from the staging of the Games.

The act includes criminal offences relating to unauthorised advertising and trading in and around Games locations at specified times to ensure. These restrictions will help us to deliver on our hosting commitments for the Games by protecting the rights of commercial sponsors and ensuring that spectators can move easily and safely around Games locations.