Commercial landlords in Northern Ireland must consider their approach to the increasing level of arrears given further extensions to restrictions on remedies.
The options open to landlords in Northern Ireland differ to those in England and Wales or in Scotland. These are addressed in our separate guides.
Restrictions on forfeiture for arrears in Northern Ireland have been extended to 30 June 2021 for all commercial leases under section 83 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. Restrictions on statutory demands and winding-up tenants have been similarly extended to 30 June 2021 under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (CIGA) 2020.
This means that from 27 April 2020 to 30 June 2021, a landlord creditor cannot present a winding-up petition, unless it has reasonable grounds to believe that either coronavirus has not had a financial effect on the tenant company, or that the company was unable to pay its debts regardless of the financial effect of coronavirus. There is a ban on statutory demands served between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2021 being used for presenting a winding-up petition on or after 27 April 2020.Whilst the legislation applies to corporate insolvency only whereby a landlord's commercial tenant is a company, it is worth noting the position taken by the Northern Ireland Bankruptcy and Companies Master. Directions issued on 4 February 2021 confirm that, due to the unprecedented challenges arising from the pandemic, the restriction on the presentation of new creditors’ bankruptcy petitions continues. This is unlikely to be removed in the short term.