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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will bring forward legislation to remove the legal obligation of pubs to pay rent to their landlords for a period of three months due to the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government recognises the significant impact on pubs caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and has announced measures, included in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, to prevent landlords from using aggressive debt recovery tactics.

These measures include a temporary ban on statutory demands and winding up orders where a company cannot pay its bills due to coronavirus, to ensure they do not fall into deeper financial strain. Government is also laying secondary legislation to provide tenants with more breathing space to pay rent by temporarily preventing landlords using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery.

However, while landlords are urged to give their tenants the breathing space needed, the Government calls on tenants to pay rent where they can afford it, or what they can, in recognition of the strains felt by commercial landlords too.

A working group has been established by the government with the commercial rental sector to develop a code which encourages fair and transparent discussions between landlords and tenants over rental payments during the coronavirus pandemic and guidance on rent arrear payments.