(Bloomberg) --

British banks and building societies won’t evict homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments over the Christmas period, as the industry looks to project a friendlier image and Covid-19 continues to disrupt the global economy.

Members of lobby group UK Finance and the Building Societies Association will “not seek, or enforce, a warrant for possession for residential and buy-to-let properties” between Dec. 13 and Jan. 4, according to a joint statement Thursday.

“Lenders have come together to agree a voluntary pause on possessions over Christmas and the new year, providing customers peace of mind that they will stay in their homes over the festive period,” said Eric Leenders, managing director of personal finance at UK Finance.

Court hearings may go ahead but evictions won’t be enforced until the end of the moratorium. Mortgage arrears are near historic lows with just 730 properties taken into possession in the third quarter, according to data from UK Finance.

The announcement comes the same week as the Financial Conduct Authority revealed proposals for a new “consumer duty,” designed to push finance firms to consider the impact of their products on consumers. The industry previously paused evictions from April 2020 to April 2021 while the U.K. battled the early stages of the pandemic and as many as 9 million workers were furloughed.

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