Can landlords issue winding up petitions under Covid?

[Sean Grey]

Hello.

Thanks for your time reading and commenting on this.

A bit confusing what the state of play currently is on this.

2 Questions:-

1. Can commercial landlords issue winding up petitions (after issuing statutory demands) on tenants who are unable to pay currently due to Covid etc?
2. Also can commercial landlords take possession of goods contained within said office?

Especially with the MPs yesterday voting to extend the "emergency provisions in the Coronavirus Act" by 6 months (and then possibly even longer thereafter!).

Many thanks in advance.

Sean.

[R0b]

Hi,

Q1.
Taking your question as it's read, no they can't. I believe the grace period has been extended to 31 March and likely to be extended again. However, to be clear, there is not a total ban on winding up petitions but in order to be successful, landlords need to meet the exception criteria. The HMCTS Form for winding up has been updated to include the criteria to be met e.g. you can still afford to pay your debts or even if covid-19 didn't exist, you would still not be able to pay your debts.

Suggest you have a look at links below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ey-form-comp-1

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/...-2020-WORD.pdf

Q2.
Your question is not clear, if they're your goods then no they can't unless they have a legal and valid right to do so.