UK Government further extends the suspension on statutory demands and winding up petitions until 30th September.In addition, the Government has also extended the commercial rent moratorium until 25 March 2022, although there will likely be legislation introduced before that to deal with unpaid rent arrears where businesses had to remain closed due to restrictions. The key elements of their proposal are:• A further extension to the moratoriums to allow time for the Government to legislate to put in place a binding arbitration scheme.• An expectation that most outstanding cases will be agreed before such a scheme kicks in.• The extension applies to all businesses, but the new measures that will be introduced by primary legislation will only cover those impacted by closures. This is not clearly defined but we understand is meant to apply to businesses subject to government restrictions on trading.• This means that rent debt accumulated before March 2020 and after the date when relevant sector restrictions on trading are lifted, will be actionable by landlords as soon as the tenant protection measures are lifted.• Government to develop ‘principles for arbitration’ to set out the framework for the arbitration process. The arbitration process will be delivered by private arbitrators but in accordance with guidelines which will be set out in the legislation, and they will have to go through an approval process to prove their impartiality.read more from BBC here
