Business Victoria has introduced the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund 3 to provide assistance to landlords who have provided rent relief to their tenants.
This fund provides grants to landlords who are experiencing hardship as a result of reducing or waiving the rent they are charging their tenant(s). Click here for more information on the reintroduced Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme.
Under the third round of this scheme, small landlords can apply for a grant of $6,000 per eligible tenancy. Where there are cases of landlords experiencing acute hardship because of the rent waiver agreed upon with their tenant(s), the grant may be increased to a maximum grant of $10,000 per eligible tenancy.
Before any landlords can apply for the program, a rent waiver or non-payment of rent between 28 July 2021 and 15 Jan 2022 must be agreed upon by the landlord and the tenant.
The following eligibility criteria apply:
- To be eligible for a grant under the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund 3, landlords must:
- be a small landlord with total taxable landholdings of less than $3 million, including part holdings but excluding principal place of residence, or where a property is held on trust, the total taxable landholdings of the trust must be less than $3 million
- be an owner and landlord of the property for which an application is made
- be a landlord that has made a rent relief agreement with their tenant(s) under the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme in operation between 28 July 2021 and 15 January 2022
- be an Australian citizen, resident, or Australian incorporated entity
- To be eligible for acute hardship consideration, small landlords must meet the eligibility criteria shown above and submit a letter from a qualified agent. Furthermore:
- Commercial rent for these applicants must represent at least 70 per cent of their gross annual income for the 2019 – 2020 financial year
- The landlord is neither an owner occupier nor a related party of the tenant
Applications for the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund 3 opened on 3 September 2021 and will close at 11.59pm on 15 January 2022, or when funds are exhausted. For further information please visit the Business Victoria website.
If you believe you are eligible based on the above criteria, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us via your Banks Group representative, (03) 9810 0700 or info@banksgroup.com.au.