Bira welcomes extension of government protection scheme

Bira has “welcomed” the Government’s decision to extend protection for businesses from aggressive debt collection until September.

The extended measures will prevent struggling retailers from being evicted with the current protection originally due to expire on June 30.

The association said the decision was made by the Government after Bira shared information supplied in a recent members’ survey.

The survey revealed that fewer than half of independent retailers who had discussed rental payments with landlords during the UK-wide lockdown saw a positive outcome.

More than 80% (83.4%) said they had discussed rental payments with landlords. However, just 41% of you had received a positive response.

In addition, almost one third (28.7%) said their landlords would offer them no help, while 3.7% said you had been threatened with legal action.

Andrew Goodacre, Bira’s CEO, said: “Bira welcomes the extension to the moratorium.In a recent members survey, 80% of respondents had tried to negotiate with landlords, and 60% of landlords had refused.

“It was clear that retailers needed more protection and this moratorium goes some way to achieving that. We hope now that landlords will work with tenants to find a mutually acceptable solution.”

He added: “I’d like to thank all the members who took part in this survey as the results have helped to shape this outcome.”