Dear Robert and Kwasi,

Government plans to tackle unfair commercial rent during the Covid-19 pandemic

We are writing with regard to the Government’s recent announcement on further legislation on commercial rent charged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We warmly welcome that the Government has now committed to do something to tackle the scandal of grossly unreasonable commercial rents charged to pubs and other businesses that have been legally unable to trade, due to Government restrictions. As you know, this has included property owners often charging full rent, even during periods of enforced closure during which of course those pubs (and other businesses) had no income at all. This pandemic has exposed a glaring gap in legislation governing rents: It simply should not be legal for any commercial landlord to enforce full rent on a business that relies entirely on a physical property to trade at times when when they are legally prevented from trading by such restrictions…