Yahoo Finance Just 13.8% of retail rents collected on quarter day
Landlords collected just 13.8% of rents owed by retailers in the UK on this week’s quarter rent day, according to new data.
The estimate from Re-Leased, a commercial property management software business, said the figure for June 24 compared to 19.8% on the previous quarter rent day in March.
The quarter day is when retailers pay rents for the next three months. However with a number of High Street businesses forced to close shops for the lockdown in March, some tenants have not been able to pay rent. “Non-essential” retailers only started reopening from June 15.
Re-Leased said just 18.2% of commercial rents in the UK were collected by landlords on June 24, compared to 25.3% in March. That covers retail, restaurants other properties used by hospitality businesses, offices and industrial real estate.
Re-Leased’s analysis is based on live rental collection data from over 10,000 commercial properties and 35,000 leases on its UK platform.
Tom Wallace, Re-Leased’s chief executive said: “Looking at the level of rent that was collected on due date is sobering, but initial signs are not as catastrophic as some were forecasting. We expect rent collection to steadily increase over the coming weeks, but it is unlikely to reach the level that we saw in March.”
The British Property Federation has urged any business in financial distress on the second rent quarter day of 2020 to speak to their landlord as soon as possible.
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