Moratorium on business evictions extended to June 30
But fears remain that extension of moratorium on evictions may only stave off inevitable
A MORATORIUM on evictions for business tenants struggling during the pandemic has been extended until June 30, but there are fears of a “mass” wave of them being kicked out of their premises when this date passes.
It was announced last year commercial tenants who cannot pay their rent because of Covid will be protected from eviction.
Measures put in place meant no business will automatically forfeit their lease and be forced out if they miss a payment.
This was originally set to expire on March 31, however Finance Minister Conor Murphy later extended it by three months.
“This extension will offer support to local businesses as we continue to deal with the economic impact of Covid-19 and move along the pathway out of restrictions,” he said.
“I would continue to encourage landlords and tenants to work together.
“Tenants should continue to meet their legal obligations and pay their rent in full if they can.
“However, where this is not possible, landlords should show leniency to those businesses in difficulty at this time.”
Alliance MLA Andrew Muir said there needed to be a strategy in place to avoid large-scale evictions when the moratorium ended.
“While the minister’s decision to extend statutory protections for business tenants is welcome, it doesn’t solve the underlying problem,” he said.
“A lot of businesses will emerge from this pandemic heavily indebted, while at the same time trying to adapt to a new business environment. The minister needs to bring forward a plan to ensure we don’t witness mass evictions once the protections are eventually lifted, including encouraging greater uptake of RICS Mediation Service to ensure tenants struggling to pay don’t end up in court fighting eviction.”
Esmond Birnie, senior economist at Ulster University, said evictions are inevitable.
“That said, as with other types of Government intervention relating to the Covid recession, the return to ‘normality’ cannot be indefinitely postponed and repeatedly pushing back deadlines may only be storing up bigger problems for the future,” he added.
“The moratorium was a very understandable reaction to the intense cash flow problems during the height of the pandemic.
“It may have provided some space for landlords and tenants to come to voluntary arrangements and it was never meant to be a rent holiday.
“That said, the moratorium has already been extended twice, from September 2020 to March 2021 and then to June 2021.
“In reality the pandemic has provoked, or accelerated, some structural shifts in the economy — further decline in physical retail, less use of office space — and this will have big implications for the commercial property market.
“The new reality will have to be faced eventually and that can only be done by letting the market work and allowing rents to adjust to new patterns of demand and supply.”
Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, said many businesses will simply be unable to open in the summer when restrictions loosen.
“Businesses are worried about what is going to happen when this moratorium and support, such as the furlough scheme, ends in the summer when businesses are able to reopen,” he said.
“I am concerned that you’ll see a very, very significant amount of local businesses closing their doors, not able to reopen. It will be a serious situation.”