The UK government has extended until September its measures to stop retailers being evicted for failing to pay rent as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

It has also introduced a Code of Practice, developed in conjunction with the retail, hospitality and property sectors, to provide clarity for businesses when discussing rental payments and to encourage best practice so that all parties are supported.

The code encourages tenants to continue to pay their rent in full if they are in a position to do so and advises that others should pay what they can, whilst acknowledging that landlords should provide support to businesses if they too are able to do so.

The UK government wants to encourage high streets to reopen and its businesses to remain in existence, even as online sales continued to grab an even larger share of the overall retail market.

Business secretary Alok Sharma (pictured) said: “From clothes stores to our local book shop, we want as many high street businesses as possible to emerge from the pandemic, in the best position to bounce back. During this particularly challenging time for businesses, our retail stores are safely welcoming shoppers back and taking the necessary steps to drive economic recovery.

In Association with

“By putting a stop to unreasonable evictions, these measures will protect jobs and provide further flexibility to our high street businesses that were trading successfully before the COVID-19 emergency, so they can focus on continuing to deliver for their customers and communities.”

According to Sharma, he will implement the  following changes:

• Extend the time period for suspension of the forfeiture of evictions from June 30 to September 30, meaning no business will be forced out of their premises if they a miss a payment in the next three months.
• Prevent landlords using Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery unless they are owed 189 days of unpaid rent. The time period for which this measure is in force will be extended from June 30 to September 30.
• Extend 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.

Figures from Britain’s Office of National Statistics for May show e-commerce grabbing an even larger slice of overall retail sales, with 33.4% of everything bought in May ordered online, up from the previous record 30.8% in April.

The extension of anti-eviction measures and the Code of Practice has the support of landlords. British Property Federation chief executive Melanie Leech stated: “The majority of property owners and occupiers are already working well together, creating shared solutions to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on their businesses. 

“The code of practice published today builds on the many examples of good practice and reinforces the importance of constructive collaboration – not only over the next few months and once the Government’s temporary legislative interventions come to an end later this year, but for the long term.

“The success of landlords and tenants working together as economic partners is vital to the UK’s recovery and to help ensure that viable businesses in distress as a result of coronavirus are supported, to protect both people’s jobs and the local authorities, savers and pensioners who own the majority of our town centres.”