Report: Retailers and landlords at odds over pandemic

Retailers are finding it hard to win concessions over rent during the pandemic shutdown, while hard-pressed landlords are not eager to amend rights that allow them to collect from tenants during a health-imposed shutdown.

A report from WWD said that landlords are unlikely to back down as their financial obligations to their lenders continue to mount. 

“COVID-19 has crushed commercial real estate. The retail market was slow before coronavirus, and this enhances and expedites the upcoming recession,” one broker told the publication.

“A large majority of retail tenants will be behind rent or forced to vacate,” another broker said. “The amount of vacancies will bring down asking rents and projected rents, lowering investors’ projections.”

The situation is likely to get worse, as WWD noted that it was hard to determine who was hurting more at this point, landlords or retail tenants.