Most of us have been detrimentally affected by the pandemic in some way or other, whether financially, or in some other more personal manner. People running retail and/or hospitality businesses have been hit particularly hard by the current situation.
Of course, landlords have also been struggling as so many leaseholders have had to delay and defer paying rent.
On 23 March 2020 the UK went into a national lock down. All non essential businesses had to close their doors until June 2020. This meant that up to a third of all rent owed to retailers was not able to be paid. The government ensured that tenants could not be forced to pay their rents and could not be evicted.
Since then we have had several months out of lockdown a second lockdown in November 2020 and we are currently dealing with a third lockdown which started at the end of December 2020. With the vaccine rollout and the steadily decreasing infection rate there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, but we are not there yet and the future is still uncertain for many.
Where do you stand right now?
As of now the rules regarding payment forfeiture have been extended to the 31st March 2021. This could be extended again, but nothing is certain.
The most important thing to do is to keep communicating with your landlord. Don’t wait until the rules change to do this. Many landlords will want to keep their tenants as the future is unclear for them as well.
If it is not practical or possible to communicate directly with your landlord and you feel you are running out of options you can always contact Kaiser Solicitors for advice.
