Jostle over commercial leases bill

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants.

Peters said yesterday he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to.

He was concerned the bill would be a ‘‘seriously retrograde step'' and would line the pockets of ‘‘$120 billion hedge funds''.

‘‘What we agreed to do... is now going to happen, I'm very confident of that. But it's not what was in the bill.

‘‘What was in the bill was something dramatic that would [be detrimental to] the very essence of our commercial law and our type of economy.''

Peters did not detail exactly what the issue was, but comments by commercial property groups indicate there was concern about big businesses being able to gain relief.

The bill was reportedly aimed at small businesses with 20 or fewer full-time employees, but it was unclear whether that included big organisations with multiple small outlets.

When it was announced earlier this month, Justice Minister Andrew Little said the proposed bill would contain a temporary lease clause that would force landlords to give small businesses a ‘‘fair'' reduction if they had suffered losses due to Covid-19.

Parties that could not agree could go through a taxpayer-paid arbitration process.

Yesterday, Little said the proposal was largely in the same shape that it had been for weeks but New Zealand First wanted ‘‘clarification on a couple of points''.

He said he ‘‘shared the frustration'' of those who wanted an urgent solution.

Commercial landlord groups, which have been concerned about large tenants refusing to pay rent, had called for straight rent relief and were disappointed.

‘‘Small businesses need three things: cash, time and certainty,'' the Property Council chief executive Leonie Freeman said earlier this month.

‘‘For many property owners and tenants, this is less a support package and more a dispute resolution option that has come two months too late to have much impact.''

One veteran property manager warned of empty stores if landlords and retailers did not start meeting in the middle.

Paul Keane, formerly the head of retail and property consultancy RCG, said landlords who stuck to the letter of the law risked seeing more closures like those recently announced by several high-profile retailers.