Less than 20% of commercial rents in the UK were collected by landlords on June quarter day, according to initial data that suggests a stark slump in tenants paying their bills during the Covid-19 downturn.

Commercial property owners brought in just 18.2% of rents on 24 June, marking a drop from the 25.3% received three months ago on the March quarter rent day.

The data from Re-Leased shows the lowest collections came from retail tenants, with landlords in the embattled sector collecting just 13.8% of rent for the June quarter, down from 19.8% in March.

Office assets have proved most resilient collecting 22.8% of rent due.

However, compared to March quarter when 31.2% was collected, this sector has seen the greatest decline with rent collection falling by 8.4%.

“For months, the industry has been speculating what the real impact of coronavirus will be on the UK’s property market. June quarter gives us the first real indicator of the severity of the crisis and quantifies the pressure both landlords and tenants are under,” said Tom Wallace, Re-Leased’s chief executive.

He added: “Looking at the level of rent that was collected on due date is sobering, but initial signs are not as catastrophic as some were forecasting. We expect rent collection to steadily increase over the coming weeks, but it is unlikely to reach the level that we saw in March.”

The analysis of 35,000 commercial leases provides the first indication of how landlords fared on 24^th June.

Re-Leased’s analysis for the March quarter revealed that 67% of commercial rent had been paid 60 days after the deadline. This compared with a figure of 84% for the December 2019 quarter.