Obviously the corporates are suffering alongside all of the independent practices, and so it was not unexpected that they would approach their landlords to reach agreement about rents over the lockdown period.

The approaches seem to have varied between different corporates. The government passed a new temporary law prior to the lockdown that a landlord could not eject a commercial tenant for withholding rents, although they state that the tenant should appreciate that the landlord may need this or part of it to cover their overheads. This is due for review in June.

Comments we have received range from

Corporate 1- Letter “We kindly ask you wave the next quarters rent” ” to manage cash flow we have cancelled tall direct debits ” “call if you wish to discuss — Technically this means that any rent dude will not be repaid until they start up again.

Corporate-2. Letter – “We would ask you to defer the next quarters rent, this will be repaid in full after the lockdown has been removed” followed by discussions where they accepted reducing the rent to 50% until the lockdown is over and then repay what is due.

Some difference in the attitude! and the relationship between landlord and tenant