Landlords collect just 21 percent of commercial rent owed on March quarter day

Landlords have received just 21 percent of commercial rents due on March quarter day, new data shows.

It marks a decline on the previous two quarters, suggesting the UK’s third lockdown has caused the rate of rent collection to soften after seeing some positive growth at the end of last year.

That’s according to the latest figures from cloud-based commercial property management platform Re-Leased, which analysed live rental collection data from over 10,000 commercial properties and 35,000 leases.

The company’s CEO Tom Wallace said the latest data showed the commercial real estate industry is “far from” back to normal as rent collection remains below pre-pandemic levels.

“The burden of three national lockdowns and other social restrictions has placed substantial pressure on occupiers and landlords, many of who are now navigating dire financial circumstances,” Wallace said in a release. “The debt pile continues to grow into the billions and the compound effect of five quarters of rent shortfall must not be underestimated.”

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