The clash between landlords and retailers has escalated as the BPF calls for an immediate end to the rent collection moratorium.

The British Property Federation has written to Alok Sharma, the business secretary, urging him to end a moratorium on aggressive rent collection introduced at the start of the pandemic.

Ministers are understood to be planning to decide this week whether to extend moratoriums that restrict property owners’ rights to pursue tenants for unpaid rent.

The present ban ends on 30 September.

Billions of pounds of rental payments have been deferred or waived since it was introduced.

BPF chief executive Melanie Leech accused “large, financially sophisticated and well-capitalised businesses” of abusing the moratorium by withholding rent to improve their liquidity.