The government has set a hard deadline of August 31st 2020 for applying for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) subsidy.
The CECRA subsidy provides a forgivable loan to landlords equal to 50% of the gross rent (including common area costs) who have entered into a 75% of more rent reduction agreement with their small to mid-size commercial tenants for the months of April to August 2020.
Small and mid-sized tenants must meet the following conditions to qualify for the rent reduction:
- They must have experienced a 70% or more decline in revenues for the April to June months compared to the same period last year,
- Pay less than $50,000 per month in gross rent, including common area costs, per location,
- Have less than $20 million in revenues on a consolidated basis
Please note there is a considerable amount of paperwork is necessary to apply for the rent subsidy including:
- landlord attestation,
- tenant attestation,
- a rent abatement agreement between the landlord and tenant which is a legally binding agreement that reduces commercial rent by 75% or more for the months of April to August 2020 and include a clause that prohibits the eviction of the tenant during this period, and
- a forgivable loan agreement between the landlord and CHMC.
If you are planning to make application for this rent subsidy it should be done as soon as possible. Contact your DMCL advisor for assistance.
