Hospitality Industry welcomes UK Government's Commercial Rent Bill

Hospitality trade body UKHospitality has welcomed the UK Government's Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022, which has received Royal Assent.

The new law, announced by Business Minister Paul Scully, will provide a legally binding arbitration process for eligible commercial landlords and tenants who have not already reached an agreement. 

This will help to resolve disputes about certain pandemic-related rent debts.

Business Minister Paul Scully said: "This new law will give commercial tenants and landlords the ability to draw a line under the uncertainty caused by the pandemic so they can plan ahead and return to normality.

"Landlords and tenants should keep working together to reach their own agreements where possible, using our Code of Practice to help them, and we've made arbitration available as a last resort. Tenants who can repay their rent debts in full should do so, and when they cannot, landlords should try to share the burden, so we can all move on."

The law, which came into effect this week, will protect eligible commercial rent debts which accrued between 21st March 2020 and the date the specific coronavirus restrictions affecting the relevant business finally ended.

Non-essential retail and leisure businesses will be protected until 12th April 2021, while hospitality and nightclubs will be protected until 18th July 2021.

UKHospitality CEO Kate Nicholls said: "These are very welcome new laws for the hospitality industry: the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill is decisive Government legislation to deal with the £7bn-plus rent debt accrued during the pandemic by businesses across all sectors. And as our sector tries to recover, it's imperative that rent debt is dealt with, otherwise, it'll hamstring our recovery.

"UKHospitality will produce detailed guidance for webinars on how tenants should approach the arbitration process. We'll be urging arbitrators that they should be seeking to preserve businesses and jobs, which will be vital to the hospitality sector's efforts to lead the UK's post-Covid economic recovery. At the same time, landlords should take a pragmatic approach to the arbitration process."