Hospitality venues are protected against eviction from their premises due to non-payment of rent until March 2021.
Originally due to expire on December 31st 2020 this extension will give some businesses a little breathing space over the Christmas period. Yes we know this is only a fraction of what is needed but to be honest any glimmer of ‘good’ news needs to be reported amongst onslaught of shit.
According to the governments release:
‘This final extension to protections from the threat of eviction will give landlords and tenants 3 months to come to an agreement on unpaid rent. The government is clear that where businesses can pay any or all of their rent, they should do so.’
The key words in that as far as we can see are ‘final extension’, the government showing their hand that this will be the cut off point for any help in this regard. They also state that further guidance to support negotiations will be published shortly.
Then comes, as sure as the word wanker follows the name Dominic Cummings, the kick in the gums (teeth were lost long ago) that the government just can’t help but deliver.
‘The move will also support businesses worst affected by the pandemic, such as bars and restaurants, helping them to rebuild over the winter period. This is in addition to putting in place one the world’s most comprehensive economic responses to protect jobs, incomes, and business throughout and beyond the pandemic.’
‘Rebuild over the winter period’? How can they can even begin to have the fucking gall to include that in the same sentence as ‘bars and restaurants’ with the tier systems they have put in place is just unbelievable. Even by this governments standards this has to be one of the most insulting statements they have made. It is getting increasingly difficult to know whether it is ignorance, stupidity or just a group of sick fucks wanting to personally hurt and upset large swathes of their country.
They also announced a review of the ‘outdated commercial landlord and tenant legislation’. They aim to ‘address concerns that the current framework does not reflect the current economic conditions’.
Once again, a series of words that do nothing to help the thousands of hospitality businesses currently holding on by their fingertips and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on them.
Anyway (deep breath) this is, even in a very small way, good news for anyone trying to negotiate with their landlord on their commercial property currently, so hopefully it will help some of you out there.
The full release can be found here.
