Protection Of Commercial Tenants Extended To March 2021

The Government has announced that in early 2021, it will review commercial landlord and tenant legislation. The review will include consideration of different models of rent payment, as well as the impact of the pandemic on the rental market.

In the meantime, the Government has announced an extension to the measures introduced to protect commercial tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic A summary of the position is set out below:

Moratorium Of Forfeiture

The moratorium on forfeiture of commercial tenants due to non-payment of rent has been extended to 31 March 2021 in both England and Wales by the Business Tenancies (Protection from Forfeiture: Relevant Period) (Coronavirus) (England) (No 3) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/1472) and the Business Tenancies (Extension of Protection from Forfeiture etc) (Wales) (Coronavirus) (No 3) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/960).

The Use Of CRAR

The effect of the regulations mentioned above is to amend the “relevant period” in s.82(12) of the Coronavirus Act 2020. By doing this, it follows that the restrictions on the use of CRAR pursuant to regulation 52(3) of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/1894) are also extended to 31 March 2021.

Restrictions On Winding Up Petitions

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Extension of the Relevant Period) (No 2) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/1483) came into effect on 8 December 2020 and extend the current restrictions to 31 March 2021.

The effect of the latest extensions mean that commercial tenants will have been afforded protection for a year.

For more information, please contact a member of the team below.