04 March 2022
The Rent Moratorium/Arbitration is in place to protect commercial tenants with rental debt from legal action by landlords.
This was put in place during the pandemic and is designed to protect rental debt incurred during lockdown periods.
Our CEO, Andrew Goodacre comments: "Rental debt became a real concern for independent retailers throughout the pandemic. Tenants have been protected from eviction by various moratoriums, the last one coming to an end at the end of March this year.
This moratorium will be replaced by a legal Bill that sets out a process for dealing with rental debt, initially through landlord-tenant negotiation and ultimately through an arbitration process if negotiations fail.
It is important to remember that the only debt protected is the ‘protected rental debt’ that has arisen during mandated closure periods (lockdowns). If you have rental debt, please read the attached document.
You will need to discuss the options with your landlord but remember that independent arbitration will be available to resolve the issue. The arbitrator will decide if there is to be any relief for the tenant, and the relief could range from 0-100% of the rental debt."
There is no deadline for comments but the final draft will be published after the Bill receives Royal Assent. Bira will be submitting comments on behalf of our members and if you would like to have your thoughts included, please write to andrew.goodacre@bira.co.uk
You can read the Rent Moratorium/Arbitration here
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