The real estate and construction drop-in surgery: insolvency week |
Join Moore Kingston Smith for their virtual drop-in surgery, this week they are discussing insolvency in the real estate and construction sector.
Prior to lockdown, the real estate market had already been experiencing a significant downturn. This is probably due to the fact that the sector, for obvious reasons is most sensitive to changes in the business lifecycle and this began to trigger financial stress which in turn caused increased levels of corporate insolvencies. At the height of the pandemic, the UK government announced (temporary) restrictions on commercial landlords (Section 82 of the Coronavirus Act 2020) to pursue outstanding rent, in an attempt to safeguard the tenant’s livelihood. The government has now announced further additional restrictions which were included in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act which came into force on 26 June 2020, preventing landlords from forfeiting leases or obtaining winding up petitions until 1 October 2020 and this timetable may still be extended further.
The Code of Practice was introduced last month to encourage property owners and occupiers to work more closely together to protect businesses. Is this voluntary Code providing a useful framework to support landlords and tenants negotiate affordable rental agreements during the Coronavirus pandemic? While the government’s urgent measures are designed to protect businesses affected by Coronavirus generally and from action by landlords in response to what has been described as “aggressive rent collection”, there will inevitably be casualties along the way as they continue to emerge from the pandemic and begin to move forward.
In this week’s drop-in surgery Moore Kingston Smith’s experts will be on hand to answer any questions you have, as well as provide you with all the up to-date information and recent changes in legislation.
The next drop-in surgery is on Thursday 30 July, hosted by their Insolvency Partner, Ian Robert, alongside real estate and construction Partner, Clare Harrall. To book your 30-minute slot, simply click on the link and tell them which time slot you would like to book. One of their team will be in touch to confirm your appointment and send you a Zoom virtual meeting invite.
Date: Thursday 30 July 2020
Time: 11.30 to 14.30
Venue: Zoom meeting
