Extend commercial eviction ban until July, campaign urges
The #GiveHospitalityABreak campaign has urged the Government for a further three-month extension to the eviction ban from 31 March and a two-year period for businesses to pay half the back-rent owed.
The campaign said this would be a Government mandated starting point for reasonable negotiations between tenants and landlords.
It would avoid the issue of tenants having to pay a pre-coronavirus rent in a post-coronavirus market, according to campaigners.
Avoid bankruptcies
Campaign founder Tony Lorenz said: “With no word from the Government thus far, clarity is urgently needed to avoid bankruptcies, and the follow-on mass unemployment in the sector. That too would have knock-on impacts on the tourism and travel industries, crucial parts of the UK’s domestic offering.”
Legislation would help catalyse a route for tenants and landlords to reach workable agreements, Lorenz added.
“What this deal does, is provide a framework for further negotiation,” he explained. “It ensures that there is a government-mandated starting point, for talks between landlords and tenants to ensure neither group, can be unreasonable to the other.
Intervention needed
“Without a decisive intervention from the government, the joke will be on them, as thousands of businesses will file for bankruptcy – perhaps as soon as April Fool’s Day - just as we are trying to re-open the economy.”
Pub operators are currently protected from eviction until the end of March 2021.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick announced an extension to the lease forfeiture and debt enforcement moratoria, giving businesses three months to negotiate unpaid rent with their landlord.
The Government said businesses should pay any or all rent where they can.
Commercial landlord and tenant legislation is to be reviewed, following concerns it is outdated for the current economy.
