The new Commercial Rent Relief program, which was announced on October 9, 2020 by the Department of Finance Canada is called the “Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy” (CERS) – a new program that would “provide simple and easy-to-access rent and mortgage support until June 2021 for qualifying organizations affected by COVID-19”.
According to the Department of Finance Canada’s announcement:
“The rent subsidy would be provided directly to tenants, while also providing support to property owners. The new rent subsidy would support businesses, charities, and non-profits that have suffered a revenue drop, by subsidizing a percentage of their expenses, on a sliding scale, up to a maximum of 65 per cent of eligible expenses until December 19, 2020. Organizations would be able to make claims retroactively for the period that began September 27 and ends October 24, 2020.”
The new CERS program will also include a 25% top-up “for organizations temporarily shut down by a mandatory public health order issued by a qualifying public health authority, in addition to the 65 per cent subsidy”.
Previously, the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program provided commercial rent relief in the form of interest-free forgivable loans to qualifying commercial landlords to cover 50% of monthly rent payable from April to September 2020 by eligible small business tenants.
For landlords and tenants who have applied for and have been approved for the CECRA, the deadline to opt-in for the July, August, and September extensions is October 30, 2020.
If you are thinking about applying for this rent relief program, Invicta Law today for advice.
