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UKHospitality has welcomed the Government’s extension of debt protections to tenants announced on 10 September.
The body claimed that the additional protections for non-rent debts will provide “breathing space” for hospitality operators to negotiate with suppliers.
Moreover, the measures are deemed to provide time to find an “appropriate arbitration mechanism that delivers on the ‘sharing of pain’”.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive at UKH, said: “The extension of existing protections, along with some further additional ones, is a very welcome response to our lobbying of Government to that end.”
She added: “It is right and fair that the economic pain of the pandemic – in which hospitality was one of the worst affected sectors suffering long periods of forced closure and restricted trading – should be shared between landlords and tenants.
“This move will save thousands of businesses and jobs, and is a key step on the way to recovery for both the sector and the country.”
However, the hospitality group also recognised that the Government missed an opportunity to prohibit County Court Judgements (CCJs), which it claimed are being used by landlords in a “vindictive, bullying and, ultimately, pointless manner”.
The group added: “We would urge Government to close this loophole at the earliest opportunity.”
