On 15 January 2022, the Victorian Government announced a further two month extension to the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme (CTRS), from 16 January 2022 to 15 March 2022.
This extension comes in response to the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and will provide ongoing support for small and medium businesses across the state.
The CTRS was originally introduced in early 2020 and reinstated in July 2021.
Key Elements
The key elements of the extended scheme are expected to be:
- its operation will be retrospective from 16 January 2022. This means tenants who are currently accessing rent relief and who are still eligible under the extended scheme will not experience a gap in support;
- it will only be available to businesses with an annual turnover of $10 million or less, and have experienced a reduction in turnover of at least 30% due to COVID-19;
- landlords remain obligated to continue providing rent relief that matches their eligible tenant’s fall in turnover;
- the prohibition on evictions and rent increases will continue;
- tenants and landlords should act in accordance with the conditions in their current rent relief agreement; and
- landlords who provide rent relief under the extended scheme will continue to be supported by the $20 million Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund.
Regulations for the CTRS extension – which are yet to be released – will include more detail. We will update our readers when the Regulations are released.
In the meantime, further information on the CTRS extension can be found in the Government’s Media Release and publication by the Victorian Small Business Commission.
If you are a tenant or landlord seeking assistance in this area, please contact the Property Group at Hunt & Hunt Melbourne.
~ by Peter Huang, Graduate at Law
