The government has confirmed that landlords will also be able to apply for a mortgage payment holiday.

The Prime Minister did not make the announcement in his daily press briefing this evening, but he confirmed that tenants would get protection against eviction.

Soon after the conference the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced on Twitter that mortgage forbearance would be extended to landlords.

The development came after UK Finance stated earlier today that the three-month payment holiday “currently” only applied to residential borrowers.

However, Boris Johnson hinted that landlords might get protection during Prime Minister’s Questions when asked about the eviction of tenants.

He said he wanted to ensure that the problems were not pushed on to “other actors” in the economy.

However, thousands of landlords have opted to take out buy-to-let mortgages through limited companies in a bid to avoid the government’s tax clampdown.

It is unclear, but appears unlikely that the option to defer payments will be offered to investors who have structured their loans in this way.