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Evictions will not be enforced in Scotland during a six-week period over Christmas following the introduction of new regulations.
The regulations will prevent eviction orders from being enforced between 11 December and 22 January, with the exception of serious anti-social behaviour cases.
In England, the UK government previously issued guidance to court bailiffs asking them not to carry out evictions between 11 December and 11 January.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish government has made a number of changes to laws around evictions, which included extending notice periods to six months for those being evicted for arrears and three months for those being evicted for anti-social behaviour.
In August, the government announced that the measures for those facing arrears would be extended until March next year, but notice periods for those being evicted for anti-social behaviour reverted to one month.
Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “We took early action to, in effect, halt eviction action until March 2021 due to the pandemic.
“We have supported tenants throughout this difficult period through a number of actions including increasing our Discretionary Housing Fund from £11m to £19m to provide additional housing support and shortly we will introduce our Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.
“We are now taking this additional, temporary step after carefully assessing the unique housing situation created by the pandemic.
“A temporary ban on carrying out evictions will give additional peace of mind to tenants over Christmas and into the new year. It will also prevent additional burdens being placed on health and housing services, during a time where they are already working hard due to the impact of the pandemic.
“It will allow tenants who are facing eviction, and may decide to take the opportunity to form extended bubbles over the festive period in line with relaxed guidance, time to effectively self-isolate afterwards should they come into contact with a positive person.
“Where there is evidence of serious anti-social or criminal behaviour, including in cases of domestic abuse, evictions can still proceed as normal.”
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