24 Apr COVID-19: Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance

The Federal Government announced the details of the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (“CECRA”) earlier today.

The details are as follows:

• Landlords and property owners will be given forgivable loans equal to 50% of the rent for eligible businesses.

• The Government will forgive these loans if:
  • Landlords reduce the monthly rent payable by the tenants by 75% (Government provides for the 50% as loan forgiveness and 25% will be “covered” by the landlord). Tenants will be responsible for the remaining 25%.
  • Landlords agree not to evict tenants during this time.

• CECRA covers the monthly rents for April (retroactive), May, and June, 2020.

• Rent must be less than $50,000 per month.

• Eligible businesses include small businesses, non-profits, and charities that have a 70% decrease in “pre-COVID-19” revenues. The revenue decline test appears to be similar to the revenue test in the CEWS.

• The application process will be administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC). There has been no date announced when applications will commence, but the Government hopes that payments will be available in mid-May to the landlords.

Please note, we understand that it will be the responsibility of the landlords to apply for this program. They must agree to forgive 25% of their rent in order to participate and, therefore, we are not certain how many landlords may be willing to participate. 

If you have any questions about the information outlined above, please reach out to our team at we_are@clearlinecpa.ca.