Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's announcement of 16 June 2021, Eviction protection extended for businesses most in need by the Department, what plans he has to support businesses unable to pay their rents who have received Country Court judgments for rent arrears.

The Government has implemented a range of measures to support commercial property tenants including extending the moratorium on the landlord’s right of forfeiture for non-payment of rent, introducing restrictions on winding-up petitions, including on the basis of a statutory demand, and extending restrictions on the use of the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR), which affects the ability of landlords to seize goods owned by the tenant in lieu of rent owed.

Whilst we recognise that landlords are increasingly using Country Court judgments as a means of debt recovery, they have a reduced impact on businesses due to the measures introduced.

The measures that we have put in place are intended to protect otherwise viable businesses from the immediate threat of eviction due to the trading restrictions introduced to combat the spread of Coronavirus. It has never been the Government’s policy intent to restrict all remedies that landlords have available to collect rents and service charges. We are seeking to strike a fair balance between providing ongoing support to tenant businesses and those who own the properties.

In addition, the government will introduce legislation in this Parliamentary session to support the orderly resolution of rental payments accrued by commercial tenants affected by non-pharmaceutical interventions during the pandemic, and the details of the process will be released in due course.

As we develop a long-term solution to these challenges, we urge landlords and tenants to negotiate and reach an agreement which is in the best interests of both parties. In the meantime, we expect businesses that are open and trading as normal to pay their full rent unless otherwise agreed as periods of normal operation will not be covered by further legislation.