The Government has announced that business owners affected by the coronavirus pandemic will be protected from eviction for non-payment of rent until 31 March 2021. This extends the existing moratoria on forfeiture of commercial leases for the non-payment of rent and other sums (i.e. service charge), as well as the presentation of winding-up petitions.

Restrictions on the use Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) are also already in place, and the Government has confirmed that the restrictions on the use of CRAR to recover unpaid rent will automatically extend until 31 March 2021.

In its announcement, the Government referred to this extension as a “final extension”, indicating that it won’t extend the moratoria beyond the end of March next year – although this waits to be seen. The Government hopes this additional time will allow landlords and tenants to reach a commercial agreement on arrears of rent.

The news of this extension will be welcomed by tenants who are still struggling to pay rents, but will be a blow for any landlords who had hoped to be able to recover premises early in the New Year.

At Hamlins, we have had many successes in recovering rent arrears for our landlord clients, in most cases without the need to issue court proceedings. If you have any questions about this update or anything related, please contact Kate Andrews.

To read the full Government announcement, click here.