More than 800,000 rented households are worried they will be kicked out in the coming months, warns a charity.
The pandemic ban on evictions ends tomorrow and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said 400,000 homes have either received notices to quit or are under threat of having to leave.
Campaigners fear a wave of court orders for repossessions as bailiff-enforced evictions, halted in March 2020, resume.
The JRF, which quizzed more than 10,000 households, suggested “clear warning signs” of a spike in evictions. On top of the 400,000 expecting to be evicted, 450,000 more are in rent arrears.
The charity’s Rachelle Earwaker said: “High levels of arrears are restricting families’ ability to pay bills and forcing many to rely on hidden borrowing.
“This is not only deeply unjust, it is also economically naive and risks hampering our economic recovery, which is reliant on household spending increasing.”
The Ministry of Housing has said renters will continue to have support.
But from Tuesday notice periods which had been extended to six months will be set at four.
Shadow Housing Secretary Lucy Powell said: “The Government is wilfully walking into a crisis.”
Pandemic rent debt is thought to have hit £360million.
Ministers have been urged to create grants and no-interest loans to help those in arrears.
