Government Announces Extension To The Moratorium On Coronavirus-related Commercial Forfeiture

• Published date: 22 June 2021
• Law Firm: Walker Morris
• Author: Mr Martin McKeague

Along with other unprecedented measures to protect the public and the economy, the UK government announced on 23 March 2020 that commercial landlords are to be precluded from forfeiting commercial leases¹ and evicting the tenant for non-payment of rent. This measure was originally in place until 30 June 2020. It was initially extended until 31 December.

While on 9 December the Government announced what was ought to be a "final extension to protections from the threat of eviction" by extending the restriction until 31 March 2021. The restrictions were extended further until 30 June 2021.

On 16 June 2021 the Government announced its intention to extend this moratorium by a further 9 months until 25 March 2022.

These measures form part of the emergency Coronavirus Act 2020. The full Act can be accessed here.

For these purposes the relevant section is Section 82 of the Act. The Act is expressed to apply to a 'relevant business tenancy' and precludes the landlord from effecting a right of re-entry or forfeiture for the non-payment of "rent" for the "relevant period". These terms are defined as follows:

Relevant Business Tenancy

• A tenancy to...