October 29, 2020 | less than a minute read

Despite the second wave Q3 rent collection up on Q2

Boodle Hatfield

Research has shown that whilst commercial rent collections are still down on 2019 levels, the impact of government schemes, such as 'eat out to help out', have led to an increase in the level of rent collected this quarter.

Cushman & Wakefield claim that 77% of rent due was collected from UK tenants this quarter, compared with just 68% last quarter. The highest proportion has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been received from office tenants, at 87%.

Whilst retail collections are still struggling at around 57%, this is up on June's 45%. However, it still seems likely that more retailers will follow the example set by John Lewis, whose planning application for partial conversion to offices at their Oxford Street store was approved this week.

There were widespread fears that when the rent to be paid by UK commercial tenants at the end of September came due, nonpayment figures would be up considerably compared to June. An extra three months of retailers trading at subdued levels, combined with continued government protection for tenants not paying rent, seemed likely to drive down payments. In fact, the opposite proved to be true.