Ross Berridge

Subscribe to Ross Berridge's Posts
Contact: Read more about Ross Berridge
Fragment of a new apartment building with ventilated facade

As previously reported (“Commercial property evictions ban extended until 25 March 2022“), on 24 June 2021 the UK Government extended the moratorium on landlords evicting commercial tenants for non-payment of rent during the pandemic under s82 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 until 25 March 2022. Similarly, the restriction on the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR), which prevents landlords seizing a tenant’s goods in lieu of rent unless the tenant has more than 554 days’ of rent arrears, was extended until 25 March 2022. The restriction on the serving of winding up petitions based on a statutory demand under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 was also extended until the 30 September 2021.
Continue Reading UK Government issues policy statement on Commercial Rent Debts

Modern Architecture in Berlin

The Government has announced that new legislation will be introduced in this Parliamentary session to ring-fence outstanding commercial rent arrears built up by tenants due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to introduce measures to guide tenants and landlords to come to an agreement on how to deal with the money owed, either by waiving some of the total amount or agreeing a longer-term repayment plan. If agreement cannot be reached, the new legislation will put in place an arbitration process to make a formal award that will be legally binding and must be adhered to by both parties.

Until these new rules come into force the existing measures to protect commercial tenants from eviction will be extended from 30 June 2021 to 25 March 2022. The Government has also extended the restrictions on landlords using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) to recover unpaid rent to 25 March 2022 as well, which increased the total number of days’ outstanding rent required for CRAR to be used to 544 days. Statutory demands and winding up petitions will also remain restricted for a further 3 months until September to protect tenants from enforcement action where their debts relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. The extensions will apply to all businesses, but the new measures introduced by legislation will only cover those businesses impacted by closures. This means that rent arrears accumulated before March 2020 and after the date when relevant restrictions on trading are lifted, will be actionable by landlords as soon as the tenant protections are lifted.  There is no restriction introduced on landlords suing for rent arrears as a simple debt claim.…

Continue Reading Commercial property evictions ban extended until 25 March 2022

The UK government has confirmed today that it will be renewing the package of measures it introduced for tenants in the commercial property sector unable to pay their rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including extending the moratorium on forfeiture and the restrictions on issuing statutory demands and winding up petitions from 30 June until…

As the June quarterly rent day looms, the government has announced it is set to publish a new code of practice to support high street landlords and tenants. The code is said to be designed to provide “clarity and reassurance” over rent payments by encouraging “fair and transparent” discussions between landlords and tenants. It also…