Published: 30 Sept 2021 by Alexa Walker

Have you ever fallen behind with rent or meeting mortgage payments? University of Hull researchers on the Home Matters team want to hear from you.

They’re collecting evidence from people who have struggled with their rent and mortgages, and who have been to court for arrears.

Measures put in place to protect people’s homes, like the eviction ban, mortgage payment breaks, and furlough, have ended. This leaves many people at risk of eviction. It’s important that the court system focuses on helping people keep their homes. Your testimony could lead to changes that help people stayed housed.

Principal investigator, Dr Lisa Whitehouse, says: ‘The research team will collect unique data from occupiers threatened with eviction and the lawyers who advise them. We hope the findings will make a positive and significant contribution to the development of a legal process that is fit for the post-pandemic future.’

A quick and confidential process

During the lockdown, the government made changes to the court system to help people threatened with eviction get legal advice and mediation. It’s crucial that this survey hears from tenants and homeowners who were in arrears during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to find out if these measures worked. This could provide key evidence to support long-term changes to the court system for possession cases.

Filling in a survey when you are worried about your home probably doesn’t feel like a priority, but if you can spare ten minutes, you could help others in your situation and contribute to positive change.

The survey is confidential. Your name will not appear anywhere. The analysis will be publicly available; shared to help policymakers and the government decide how to deal with evictions in the courts.

Find out more information about the Economic and Social Research Council-funded research and complete the survey here.