AQW 8780/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 14/10/2020
Answered On Date: 21/10/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance whether he will publish the advisory guidance and regulations for commercial tenants and commercial landlords on rent collection while COVID-19 public health restrictions are in place.

Answer:

Both the regulations and the guidance have been published.

My Department inserted a special provision into the Coronavirus Act 2020 to ensure that business tenants here are protected from the threat of eviction because of non-payment of rent at this difficult time. The special provision initially applied during the period from 25 March 2020 to 30 June 2020; I subsequently extended the protection by legislation until 30 September and then recently under to 31 December 2020 under The Business Tenancies (Coronavirus) (Restriction on Forfeiture: Relevant Period) (Northern Ireland) (No 2) Regulations 2020. The regulations have been published at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2020/209/contents/made.

In my Press Release on 19 June I welcomed and referenced the publication of the voluntary Code of Practice for landlords and tenants by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which seeks to promote good practice between tenants and landlords, working together to get through the pandemic. The published guidance remains available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-commercial-property-sector