Industry bodies issue call to extend protection from rent enforcement activity
Organisations representing over 80,000 members from across the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors are urging the Government to take steps this week to extend protection from rent enforcement activity.
The British Independent Retailers Association has joined forces with UK Active and UK Hospitality to tell the government how their members could face evictions, winding up orders and other enforcement activity when the current protection from landlords begins to expire on 30 June.
The bodies have written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, to call for the Government to urgently extend the moratorium of forfeiture until at least October 2020.
The moratorium of forfeiture prevents landlords from issuing legal proceedings against tenants, such as statutory demand notices, winding up orders and commercial rent arrears recovery.
While the Government is working with industry to develop a new code of practice designed to support businesses, the organisations are worried that there will be insufficient time for it to influence rent demands that are due to fall on 24 June.
Photo by Georgia Hawkins
