Self employed and shop front advice please

natnatc

I am self employed and have a shop front that I use as a psychotherapy/coaching practice. 
I made a loss in my first year 18/19 but a healthy profit for 19/20. I was employed fully time prior to this. I'm not entitled to the self employed funding.
I tried to apply for the shop grant but my landlord said the business rates aren't in my name. They are in his name. Can I challenge this as I pay rent weekly and did so up to lockdown when I had to close my business. I haven't been able to pay the rent on the shop as I have no income. I plan to return to the office from 15th June but the landlord is saying I have to pay back the rent owed since lockdown which will be impossible.
I tried to claim universal credit but they said no as my partner has been furloughed on full pay and had savings. This is now causing relationship problems as I can't contribute anything to the outgoings and he's had to use his savings to support me which isnt right. I may have to now fold my business and apply for a job. I worked so hard to build what is now a successful business prior to lockdown. Just don't know what to do as now I may be out of a business and out of a home and relationship. 

[Deleted User]

Only the rate payer can claim the £10k grant and only if they are in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief, if you are not then you can not claim. There are some local schemes which offer help to businesses who were not eligible for the grants tied to SBRR, you will need to see what is available in your local area and if you qualify.

You should be eligible for New Style Jobseekers Allowance which whilst not a lot (£74.35 per week) is better than nothing, there are currently no requirements to actually look for a job. 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-jobseekers-allowance

You are correct in regard to Universal Credit as it is assessed per household and savings of more than £16,000 make the household completely ineligible. 

I would suggest that you seek alternative employment until you are able to reopen your business (something you probably should have done back in March when you closed it temporally), which should hopefully allow you to pay your rent. You should also look to come to an agreement with your landlord, immediate payment of all back rent is probably unreasonable, but if you never agreed a payment break with them then you may not have much flexibility. You could agree to spread the catch up payments over the next six months or something similar. You will also be in a different situation depending on if you are a sole trader or limited company. You do need to be realistic about when/if your business will return to profit, if it will not return to profit then you will have to close it down, if you do envision it returning to profit in the next month or two then you should find a way to push ahead (and if you made a profit at the end of FY 2019 then you could take on a Bounce Back loan to pay the back rent and cover the restart period. 

Jeremy535897

You need to see if you can get a bounce back loan. If you currently have a business bank account with a lender that offers them, start there. If not, and your bank offers bounce back loans, you may find it harder. There are many threads on this forum about bounce back loans and different lenders. You should see whether you can get a loan of 25% of your 2019/20 turnover.

I don't think new style JSA is available, as you won't have the necessary class 1 NIC contributions in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Did your landlord receive the £10,000 small business grant? If he did, you can try to shame him into giving you some rent relief. He cannot start eviction proceedings for non-payment of rent until after 30 June. Unless the accommodation you rent is serviced, you would normally be the one on the rating list as occupier, and entitled to the grant. You could raise this with the council, and if they are currently considering applications for the discretionary top up scheme, it is one of the factors they would consider. See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/top-up-to-local-business-grant-funds-scheme