Landlords and tenants groups are at loggerheads as an emergency ban on evictions during the height of the coronavirus pandemic comes to an end on Sunday.

Charities are warning of a spike in the number of people becoming homeless since the start of the crisis that has seen tens of thousands of people lose their jobs and suffer falls in their income.

But letting agents have argued landlords should not be left out of pocket by tenants who are unable to pay their rent, in one case £50,000 from a single tenant.

Government figures for January to March, ahead of lockdown and before the eviction ban came in, show thousands of private renters were being made homeless as the pandemic began. Homelessness charity Shelter has said the number could surge once the eviction ban ends this weekend and the recession deepens.

Almost 5,000 households were threatened with homelessness as a result of being served with a Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction notice in the first three months of the year, equating to 12 per cent of all households found to be threatened with homelessness.

One in five households facing homelessness (15,130) lost their last settled home due to the ending of a private tenancy. Of these households, a quarter (25 per cent) lost their tenancy as a result of rent arrears.

Existing Shelter research found almost 230,000 private renters in England have fallen into arrears since the pandemic started, which could put their home at risk. It added despite the evictions ban, more than 170,000 private tenants have already been threatened with eviction by their landlord or letting agent

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter says: “With daily news of new job cuts and the eviction ban set to lift on Monday, the coming months are likely to see a devastating homelessness crisis unfold unless the government steps in to safeguard people’s homes.

“Some may even face sleeping on the streets as councils struggle to cope with the intense pressure on oversubscribed services.”

But Marc von Grundherr, director of letting agents Benham and Reeves, saus it is “unfair” to expect landlords to go on indefinitely taking the financial hit that comes with supporting tenants who cannot pay their rent.

“Those tenants who have found themselves in financial hardship due to the coronavirus have now had time to seek alternative living arrangements without the pressure of eviction. In any other scenario, it’s unlikely they would have been afforded this luxury,” he comments.

He adds some landlords have been “held to ransom by unsavoury tenants” who have seen the eviction ban an opportunity “to play the game” knowing they can’t be told to leave.

von Grundherr gives the example of one landlord who is already £50,000 out of pocket from unpaid rent by a single tenant. The end of the eviction ban means he can now start proceedings against them, but given the backlog he is unlikely to even get a court date for several months, which could another £50,000 in lost rent to his bill.

“As with most aspects of current life, returning to normality isn’t an easy process and there are no quick fixes in many cases. However, return to reality we must and removing the ban on rental evictions is the next, necessary step in doing this within the property industry,” concludes von Grundherr.