Trudeau Announces Agreement on Commercial Rent Assistance

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced an agreement with the provinces/territories on commercial rent.  The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) will see commercial rents lowered by up to 75% for businesses affected by COVID-19.

“More help is on the way for our small businesses across the country,” Trudeau said.  The program, to be administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation breaks down as follows:

• The program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50 per cent of three monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during April, May, and June.
• The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75 per cent for the three corresponding months under a rent forgiveness agreement, which will include a term not to evict the tenant while the agreement is in place. The small business tenant would cover the remainder, up to 25 per cent of the rent.
• Impacted small business tenants are businesses paying less than $50,000 per month in rent and who have temporarily ceased operations or have experienced at least a 70 per cent drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues. This support will also be available to non-profit and charitable organizations.

“We thank and commend the many property owners who have already taken action to help their tenants during this crisis,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said.