The government has confirmed the extension of protection for businesses from eviction for a further three months.
The protection, which has been in place since March, was due to expire on 1 October but will now last until the end of the year.
The government has similarly extended restrictions on landlords taking commercial rent arrears recovery action.
However, today’s announcement includes no extension of the restrictions on landlords using winding-up petitions or statutory demands, which retail and hospitality had also hoped for. One industry source said there was ”little point in extending one without the other”.
The bans on winding up petitions and statutory demands are also set to expire on 1 October. The BRC was today checking with government officials for clarity on whether a further announcement of their extension would follow today’s.
BRC director of business and regulation Tom Ironside said otherwise the protections that remained would be undermined.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the extension of the eviction ban would “stop businesses going under and protect jobs over the coming months”.
Business secretary Alok Sharma said: “Extending the temporary measures we put in place earlier this year to protect businesses from the threat of eviction will give them some much-needed breathing space at a critical moment in the UK’s economic recovery.”
The BRC’s Ironside said: “We’re pleased that government has listened to us and others on the issue of rents. It remains a difficult time for store-based retailers, who face high costs from coronavirus safety measures and significantly lower footfall.
“While the extension of the moratorium will provide a respite for many struggling retailers, a large Christmas Day rent bill would be a disaster during the all-important peak trading period. Some protections have not been included in this announcement, such as the ban on statutory demands and winding-up petitions. Without these, and County Court judgements, the protections that have been extended will be undermined.
“Nonetheless, we hope those landlords who haven’t agreed settlements with their tenants will use this extra time and negotiate a reasonable deal that shares the impact of coronavirus fairly.”
Landlords have been less welcoming of today’s measures. Vivienne King, CEO of Revo, which represents shopping centre landlords, said: “By extending the moratoriums, government is unintentionally undermining contractual arrangements between property owners and occupiers, and encouraging a disregard for fundamental principles of our legal system. At a time when we desperately need capital investment into town and city centres, we fear this hasty decision will have a long tail.”
The BRC, along with UKHospitality and the British Property Federation, have for months been calling for a government grant scheme to pay some of the rent debt accrued by businesses in lockdown. However, The Grocer revealed this morning the government had ruled the prospect out and was looking only at “non-fiscal measures”, according to a source briefed by civil servants.
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