AQW 25187/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 03/11/2021
Answered On Date: 11/11/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance, pursuant to AQW 20446/17-22, (i) what next steps are proposed; and (ii) whether progression of legislation to ring-fence rent arrears accrued from March 2020 for business tenants affected by Covid-19 business closures forms part of these next steps.

Answer:

(i) My department will conduct a campaign aimed at all landlords and tenants who are dealing with rent debt accrued during lockdown to raise awareness for the alternative dispute resolution avenues open to those parties. We will encourage them to take the opportunity, between now and the end of the moratorium on evictions, to work out their differences so they do not find themselves in mandatory arbitration proceedings.

(ii) My Officials have been working with Westminster counterparts to insert an enabling power in the new Westminster Bill. This power would allow us to replicate that policy, if required, in a local context by making subordinate legislation in the Assembly, should mandatory arbitration be considered to be an appropriate method for addressing the issue of unpaid commercial rent when the business moratorium ends.