Liz Shaw, director at Wake Smith Solicitors, looks at further repercussions of COVID-19 legislation for landlords.
Landlords will recall that the Government, through its Coronavirus Act 2020, brought in legislation to restrict a landlord’s right to lock a tenant out for non-payment of rent.
That fetter was put in place until 30 June.
The Government has announced that the moratorium on forfeiture will be extended to 30 September.
A further restriction has been brought in which will prevent Landlords using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery unless they are owed 189 days (previously 90 days) of unpaid rent.
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill will also be amended extending the temporary ban on the use of statutory demands and winding up petitions where a company cannot pay its bills due to Coronavirus until 30 September.
In fact, in two recent cases before the High Court, even before the new rules became law, tenants were able to successfully obtain orders to protect them from being made insolvent by their landlords. The Court emphasised that its decision was supported by the Bills “Clear Policy Objectives”.
It appears to be the case therefore that landlords are going to be incredibly hard pushed to successfully wind up tenants if there is any suggestion at all that their business has been financially disrupted by Covid-19.
For further details on property litigation issues contact Elizabeth Shaw at Wake Smith Solicitors on 0114 266 6660.
