The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has delayed a key piece of legislation after problems in its drafting.
The Pubs Code – which aims to ensure "fair and lawful" dealings between large pub-owning businesses and their tenants – was promised in last year's Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act.
It will allow pub tenants to have their rent reviewed regularly and give so-called "tied" tenants – who are bound to pay rent to and buy in all their beer and drinks from large pubcos rather than on the open market – the option to request a market rent only option "in specific circumstances".
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But consumer body the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) gave a lukewarm response to the Pubs Code when it was published in draft form last year, saying it would leave tenants who were already paying over-the-odds in rent "powerless".
The full code was set to come into force on May 26. However, in a written statement published on Thursday, BIS minister Anna Soubry confirmed that the government would not meet the "challenging deadline" even though "good progress" had been made.
"Since laying the Pubs Code regulations, we have identified a small number of technical drafting errors," Soubry told MPs.
"It is important to get the Pubs Code right for both tenants and pub owning businesses. Therefore the government withdrew the regulations yesterday in order to deal with these errors. This means that the Pubs Code will not be in force by the 26 May as previously set out."
Soubry vowed that the department would address the drafting errors "quickly" and said amended regulations would be laid before parliament "as soon as possible, minimising the delay bringing the Code into force."
She added: "The regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure, and so parliament will have an opportunity to debate the content and give the regulations full scrutiny."