On the 24th March 2022, the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act received Royal Assent in the UK.  The Act introduced a new statutory arbitration process for disputes relating to commercial rent arrears accrued when businesses in the UK were forced to close due to government-mandated Covid-19 lockdowns.

As an approved arbitration body, CIArb is accepting applications from parties covered by the Act and will appoint suitable arbitrators from our existing panels.

Please note that the Coronavirus Commercial Rent Debt Arbitration Scheme is now open for applications.

Click here to apply

If you would like to enquire about the service, please email das@ciarb.org.

There are four key areas to the Act, across the 31 sections:

• Sections 1-6: an overview of the Act
• Sections 7-22 and Schedule 1: introduces and sets the boundaries of a binding arbitration process to be used with parties do not agree on a solution for outstanding rent arrears
• Sections 23-27, and Schedule 2 and 3: extends existing restrictions on enforcing business rent arrears
• Sections 28 to 31: occupied by the scope and the extent of the Bill

Business Minister Paul Scully said: “This new law will give commercial tenants and landlords the ability to draw a line under the uncertainty caused by the pandemic so they can plan ahead and return to normality.”

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will issue further guidance to landlords and tenants as well as to arbitrators on how the process will work for all parties, which CIArb will share once published.