The independent arbitration panel empowered to reduce or uphold commercial rent arrears generated during the Covid-19 pandemic has given a newsagent at Westfield Stratford City nine months to pay £55,000 of rent arrears.
According to the findings of the Falcon Chambers arbitration panel, Newspoint (Stratford) Ltd, which operated two news kiosks in the east London shopping mall, said it ran up the arrears after reduced footfall during the lockdowns forced the business from profit into loss.
The award ruling, written by arbitrator Greville Healey, stated that Newspoint’s annual revenue dropped from £762,000 in 2019 to £337,000 in 2021. Profit in the year ending August 2019 was £31,000, compared with a loss of £62,000 in 2021.
Healey stated: “While the very significant drop in turnover, and the slide from profitability into loss-making in the years ending 2020 and 2021, obviously represents a major and damaging impact on the [newsagent’s] business, it does not follow that it has made it unviable (without relief) now.”
He ruled that the newsagent should pay the debt in full over time.
“The respondent shall be given relief from payment of the protected rent debt of £55,191.81 (including interest) in the form of time to pay,” the arbitrator said in his decision.
The business will pay £6,100 per month until May 2023, the arbitrator ruled.
