Retail, leisure and hospitality firms have been severely impacted by the lockdown restrictions, in most cases meaning they are forced to close their doors, and in Q4 of 2020, commercial landlords collected only 77 per cent of rents.
City AM reports that the latest research has shown that pubs, bars, and restaurants only paid 23 per cent of their rent, especially with most missing out on the lucrative and crucial Christmas trading period.
Brewers and pub companies with their own portfolio of premises have had at least £90 million of rent gone unpaid, with companies taking different approaches to the situation.
Heineken has offered its tenanted pubs a 90 per cent reduction in rent, while JW Lees has charged its licensees zero rent for each day their pubs are forced to shut.
Nick Ridley, the head of UK asset services at Cushman & Wakefield, has urged the government for more support for landlords who have been equally impacted by the pandemic. He warned that the extension on eviction bans until 31 March will have a severely detrimental impact on rent levels.
“The current unprecedented conditions are likely to see more tenant stress in certain sectors, and therefore landlords, suffer too,” he said.
“Now is the time for the government to implement a plan to support landlords, which we recommend includes rent subsidies through property bounce back grants, the protection of tax-free shopping and a radical reform of the business rates system.”
Poor Christmas trading due to restrictions left many pub, restaurant and leisure businesses unable to meet rent commitments in the final quarter.
Meanwhile, shopping centre landlords received less than half of rents, with only 49 per cent paid.
The office and industrial sectors had the strongest quarter, with 88 per cent of rent collected.
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