What you need to know about the commercial landlord hardship grant

A fund has been established to support small private commercial landlords who have been impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Victorian government is offering grants of up to $3,000 per tenancy for commercial landlords who are facing financial hardship as a result of reducing rents for tenants.

Under the state government’s commercial tenancy relief scheme (CTRS), many commercial landlords have had to provide rent reductions to struggling business tenants regardless of their own financial situations.

The fund comes as landlords also face an extended ban on evictions and rental increases until the end of the year to support struggling renters and business tenants.

Who is eligible for the commercial landlord hardship grant?

Commercial landlords can qualify for the grants if they are private individuals or joint landlords that are natural persons rather than self-managed superannuation funds, trusts or other incorporated entities.

To be eligible for the fund, the applicant must:

• Be a landlord with total taxable landholdings of less than $1 million as shown by their 2020 state revenue office land tax assessment. A 2019-20 municipal rates notice can be used as evidence for the landholding if the land does not meet the land tax assessment threshold
• Be a landlord with a CTRS-eligible tenancy meaning that the tenant is participating in the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme and has turnover under $50 million
• Be experiencing financial hardship arising from reducing rent for the relevant properties
• Have provided rent relief to the tenant that must be at least 30 per cent of total rent payable, of which at least half of the rent relief is in the form of:
  • a waiver for the equivalent of a minimum three-month period before the date of start of this fund; or
  • a waiver in terms of rent reductions negotiated after the date of the start of this fund.

Apply for the commercial landlord hardship grant

Applications for the grant are open and will run for eight weeks from August 21 or until the funds are exhausted. You can apply for the grant here.

The government will try to notify all applicants of the outcome of their application within ten business days. You can learn more about the grant here.

There are numerous conditions to meet in order to qualify for the commercial landlord hardship grant.

If you currently have a commercial property being managed by LDB Property and need help in understanding what the grant means for your situation, the real estate team at LDB Group can provide critical advice and support your grant application.

To learn more, give us a call on (03) 9875 2900 or send us a message via the contact form below and one of our real estate specialists will be in touch.