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'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

thisismoney.co.uk

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Re: 'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

#2
Yes, they hope to sieze all assets and sell the business after the UK emerges from the pandemic. One hopes the law makers in the UK will act to block this. Like snakes, the landlord's teeth point inwards. In mitigation, the landlords may well have their own mortgages to pay, and need to establich their legal position in a timely manner under contract laws, so a full governmental solution is needed.

Re: 'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

#4
post #3

Any form of profiteering in a crisis such as this should result in massive fines and prison time, in war time I believe firing squads were in order.

How exactly is this profiteering? They aren't demanding extra money or marking services up. They're at a high risk of bankruptcy themselves.

Re: 'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

#5
I find this question hard to think about. Who exactly should be pricing in the risk of something like this happening? On both sides there are agents who have taken on risk. Some of the agents paying rent overextended themselves even before the crisis. Some of the agents renting space did the same. So who should take the hit? Nobody (i.e., the government)? Even that solution seems wrong -- do we really want to incentivize agents that leverage their property holdings to the hilt?

My naive reaction is that the agents renting space are somehow "more able" to absorb the costs. Maybe it's because I think banks seem to be doing ok, and in my head banks are the people who lend things to people and charge fees, whereas my friendly neighborhood restaurant seems to be scrabbling harder to make ends meet. Or maybe it's because I think people who own resources are just always doing better than the people who rent them. But that's not a very convincing argument.

Re: 'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

#7
post #5

I find this question hard to think about. Who exactly should be pricing in the risk of something like this happening? On both sides there are agents who have taken on risk. Some of the agents paying rent overextended themselves even before the crisis. Some of the agents renting space did the same. So who should take the hit? Nobody (i.e., the government)? Even that solution seems wrong -- do we really want to incenti…

Both should be pricing in the risk.

If I buy a house as an individual I'm taking some of the risk, but so is the bank that lends me money. We each have different risks (I can lose the house, the bank can lose the money if they can't make it back by selling it), which is fine.

Re: 'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

#8
post #4
post #3

Any form of profiteering in a crisis such as this should result in massive fines and prison time, in war time I believe firing squads were in order.

How exactly is this profiteering? They aren't demanding extra money or marking services up. They're at a high risk of bankruptcy themselves.

Businesses were told to close by the government to prevent spread of the virus, thus effectively shutting off their income.

The government should shut off rent income, too. And mortgage payments.

We're in survival mode. Nobody gets to make any money right now. We have to wait for the recovery to begin.

Re: 'Dogfight' looms as landlords start suing restaurants over unpaid rent

#10
post #8
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How exactly is this profiteering? They aren't demanding extra money or marking services up. They're at a high risk of bankruptcy themselves.

Businesses were told to close by the government to prevent spread of the virus, thus effectively shutting off their income. The government should shut off rent income, too. And mortgage payments. We're in survival mode. Nobody gets to make any money right now. We have to wait for the recovery to begin.

How are people going to obtain goods and services if they're not making any money? I suppose we could bootstrap a temporary command economy, but that seems very challenging and such economies don't have a great track record.
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