Car Finance, Kennels Closing, Rental Repossessions
What to do if you can't afford to keep paying for a car on finance. The struggle to keep kennels and catteries open in the pandemic. Change in the rules on eviction of tenants.
Almost 10 ten per cent of people paying for a car on finance have had to take a payment holiday during the pandemic. That's what the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has told You and Yours this week. Since the Covid crisis, there have been around 500,000 payment deferrals. All payment holidays ended completely on July 31st this year. We examine what lenders are now doing to help people still struggling to afford payments. We speak to Hugh Griffiths, Features Editor at Car Wow, a comparison website about options open to those on deals now coming to an end.
We report on a crisis within the pet boarding industry because fewer people are going abroad on holiday. Research by the Good Kennel Guide suggests that in some areas more than a third of kennels and catteries have closed. For those that are still open, it's unclear how many will survive until next summer. We speak to Su Carlin, Director of LiKCA (the Licensed Kennel & Cattery Association), who also runs Sunnymead Kennels and Cattery in Shropshire, and Sarah Harrison, the founder of the Good Kennel Guide, an independent website connecting pet owners and kennels.
From tomorrow, landlords in England will again be able to ask a tenant to leave, without a reason, with two months notice. During the pandemic the Government announced a "complete ban on evictions" to ensure no struggling renter would be "forced out of their home" due to the impact of Covid-19. Notice periods were extended up to six months and later reduced to four. We assess how the return to pre-pandemic notice periods will affect both tenants and landlords. We speak to Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action and Peter Tutton, Head of Policy at the debt charity Step Change.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes