Market Stall Trader still expected to pay full rent even though unable to trade due to Corvid-19.

bradders1983

diggingdude said:

if the market is being prevented from being opened and you are being charged, maybe get on the local facebook pages and try to get some support from the community to challenge it?

I doubt markets are being PREVENTED from opening, local councils across the country run them and they will make the decision themselves. They are allowed to be open but only "essential" stalls allowed. Be nice if the OP came back to clarify a few things.

Undervalued

nic_c said:

Undervalued said:

Who has decided that your goods are "non essential" and are they actually preventing you from trading?

I struggle to see that many of the goods B&Q offer are essential but they seem to be trading (rightly or wrongly).

When the lockdown was announced B&Q closed their stores to reorganise so they focused on essential repair/maintenance and closed the garden centre parts. So many of their normal products weren't on sale.

Really?

Essential in who's opinion?

If your plumbing or roof is leaking or your drains are blocked then most people would agree that is essential. Beyond that there is a huge grey area. I wouldn't mind betting that only a tiny fraction of B&Q's sales over the weekend have been for truly "essential" items.

Whether they should be more restricted, less restricted or not allowed to trade face to face at all is another matter but let's not pretend that more than a small proportion of the sales were essential!

Jeremy535897

This may be of interest to quite a few people:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/top-up-to-local-business-grant-funds-scheme

[Deleted User]

MarketTrader said:

Hi, I'm a market trader and due to selling non essential items, I am unable to trade due to the current corvid-19 lockdown. I am also my mums carer. She is currently undergoing chemo and therefore is sheilding. I live with my mum so I am having to shield also. I've received the small business grant which is helping due to not having my market stall income coming in. Yesterday all traders have received a letter stating that our stall rent will be deferred for 3 months from 1st April, yet this will mean that on return to work (which will be very limited and will have many restrictions in place all effecting trade) we will be presented with a huge rent bill to pay. I'm just looking for some advice as I've looked online and many markets are stating that they are offering 3 months free rent to help traders. I just can't see how full rent can be charged when we are legally unable to open.

Any help would be much apreciated.

Which markets have you seen that say rent is free? I don't think this is the case for the majority as many street markets are run directly through local councils. 

Does your market operate in a very small space and on both sides of a road? Would there be enough social distancing in place if reopened as it used to be? Maybe the council cannot reopen this market at the moment as they might need to implement changes therefore only allowing certain stalls to trade or none at all... You havn't said if the market is currently closed of if some stalls have been allowed back to trade so its hard to say, but as and when the time comes that it does re-open it might take many months for things to get back to normal and if there are drastic changes made to ensure social distancing then is it worth continuing to trade... This obviously depends very much on what you sell.