Which Covid-19 Commercial Rent Dispute Body Should I Use? Key Terms Compared

The UK Government has introduced a new statutory scheme under the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 (the 2022 Act) for the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants in relation to rent arrears accrued during the pandemic. The background to the scheme and when it may be used is discussed in our earlier blog here.

Arbitration bodies must be approved by the Government in order to administer arbitrations under the scheme. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has now published a list of arbitration bodies (the Approved Bodies) that have been approved to do so. In this post, we consider the procedural requirements of the statutory scheme, the offerings of each of the Approved Bodies and how the scheme differs to the standard process adopted for arbitrations under the Arbitration Act 1996 (the Arbitration Act).