Good morning.
Primark is paying some of its landlords, on the understanding that they don’t tell the others. The retailer is using gagging orders(£) to stop landlords from discussing which of them has been paid rent.
Meanwhile Travelodge has been accused of driving “an oil tanker through property legislation”. The hotelier plans to give customers a vote on its CVA proposal, in a bid to neuter landlord opposition. Ouch.
KPMG is on standby to handle Intu’s administration(£) if the shopping centre owner cannot reschedule its debts.
And a change to turnover-based rents(£) is inevitable, say property executives.
The government intends to lift planning restrictions(£) to allow pub gardens and outside restaurant space to reopen from 22 June. Rishi Sunak(£) is leading the group pushing for rapid reopening, which is the calling itself the “Save Summer Six”. We can’t imagine that name catching on.
Drive-in cinema(£) is set to become the summer’s big fad as social distancing makes us go all American. No smooching on the back seat, though.
The fitness industry wants the government to defuse a rent “ticking timebomb”(£) by extending the ban on forfeiture to September.
Meanwhile Sanctuary Students is proving it offers no sanctuary to students that don’t pay rents, by sending in the debt collectors(£).
Lawyers are pursuing claims against a credit firm that stands accused of using “aggressive tactics”(£) to put charges on property assets.
And £36bn of the emergency coronavirus loans could prove “toxic”(£), warns a Bank of England group.
Downing Street is preparing legislation that could see company directors jailed if they don’t declare a potential foreign takeover(£).
G-g-good news for G-g-Granville as local grocers and corner shops enjoy a renaissance(£) under the lockdown.
But bad news for small housebuilders(£), which are collapsing into administration at an accelerating rate.
The Times (£), meanwhile, has an interview with Dave Jenkinson, who has announced his early retirement from Persimmon after two years in the chief executive’s seat.
Elon Musk could be planning a gigafactory in Bristol(£), after being spotted jetting to the southwest of England last week.
The editor of a US newspaper has resigned over the headline of an article bemoaning damage to buildings(£) during the George Floyd protests. The headline read “Buildings Matter, Too”.
And a London-based financier, Gianluigi Torzi(£), could face 12 years in a Vatican dungeon after being arrested by the Pope’s police over the sale of 60 Sloane Avenue(£).
And finally, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is hoping for good news in Scotland. The sheikh may finally get planning permission for a “much needed” 6-bed hunting lodge(£) on his 63,000 acre Inverinate estate. After all, he currently only has 30 bedrooms and permissions for 28 more.
