Government Announces Moratorium On Coronavirus-related Commercial Forfeiture (February 2021)

• Published date: 05 February 2021
• Subject Matter: Real Estate and Construction, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-structuring, Insolvency/Bankruptcy, Landlord & Tenant - Leases
• 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 leases ¹ 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 and then, on 9 December the Government announced a 'final extension to protections from the threat of eviction' by extending the restriction until 31 March 2021. It remains to be seen if these measures will be extended further.

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 which Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 applies, or
• A tenancy to which that Part of that Act would apply if any relevant...