Large portfolio and commercial landlords should get payment holidays – Sharma

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  • 17/06/2020
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Large portfolio and commercial landlords should get payment holidays – Sharma
Loan payment holidays should be extended to commercial landlords as well residential borrowers and smaller buy-to-let landlords, business secretary Alok Sharma has said.

 

Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Sharma (pictured) said: “I would expect lenders to apply similar forbearance [as residential tenants and landlords] where needed in the case of existing commercial loans.”  

Sharma’s statement was in response to Kevin Hollinrake MP, who said allowing commercial tenants to take breaks on their payments shifted the financial burden to commercial landlords, who in many cases were only given a capital repayment holiday. 

Hollinrake, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for fairer business, has previously called on the Financial Conduct Authority and UK lenders to introduce six-month payment holidays on commercial loans for business customers affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

This announcement means small and medium enterprises and landlords with larger portfolios affected by Covid-19 should be able to benefit from some of the financial relief the government has made available for those impacted by the pandemic.

Three-month payment breaks on mortgages and loans were initially introduced in March for residential borrowers, before being extended to Help to Buy and buy-to-let customers later that month. 

In May, it was announced that the payment holiday scheme would be continued for a further three months to help those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

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