The Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund provides grants of up to $3,000 per month per retail or commercial lease to eligible NSW small landlords.

The Fund is an exhaustible financial resource and remains open until it is

–  Declared closed by NSW Government; or

–  The money in the Hardship Fund is exhausted (“runs out”) – whichever comes first.

Applications open in October 2021.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must:

1. 1. be a landowner (or trustee) with total taxable land holdings of less than $5 million (as at 31 December 2020)
   2. have not claimed land tax relief for the relevant property for rent reductions between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2021
   3. have gross rental income as their primary source of income (gross rental income being more than 50% of total assessable income) for the 2019-20 financial year;
   4. be a landowner of the property for which an application is made;
   5. be the landowner of a New South Wales property subject to the Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation 2021;
   6. be a landlord with a current lease agreement that provides rent relief to the tenant(s) from 13 July 2021 that will not be claimed as 2021 land tax relief
   7. attest that providing rent relief to the tenant(s) may cause financial hardship

Process before applying

 Before applying to the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund, landlords must complete the following process under the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme:

Step 1 – Reach an agreement through either mediation or private negotiation with impacted tenants, that complies with the Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation 2021

Step 2 – Obtain tenant’s approval to disclose terms of agreement for the purpose of applying for the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund grant

Step 3 – Show evidence that the agreed amount has been applied to the month for which the grant is being claimed

Landlords may then apply for a grant of up to $3,000 per month per eligible property in proportion to their ownership share.

Monthly Reporting

Monthly attestation is required (for the term of the rental abatement agreement) from the applicant that

–  The rental abatement agreement remains in force; and

–  All other scheme requirements continue to be met, in particular ongoing financial hardship of both the tenant and landowner.

 Applications and Evidence

Application is made through Service NSW – and open in October 2021

Applicants must attach

Statutory Docs

–  a 2020 or 2021 Land Tax Assessment Notice OR

–  2019-20 Income tax return for the relevant entity

Lease Agreement

–   the current lease agreement (or other suitable documents where not available) with their tenant(s) showing:

(a) the total value of pre-COVID rent;

(b) tenant(s) contact details;

(c) tenant(s) Australian Business Number(s) or Australian Company Number (ACN).

Evidence of Relief

–  written details of the rent relief agreed between landlord and tenant(s), including:

(a) rent relief start and end dates

(b) total value and per cent of rent deferred

(c) total value and per cent of rent waived.

ID

–  Acceptable Identification

Attestation

Applicants will be required to attest that:

(a) they meet the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund eligibility criteria;

(b) the information provided in the application is true and correct;

(c) a current lease agreement is in force and is subject to the Regulation;

(d) they hold the written consent of the tenant to provide business and contact details;

(e) the rent reduction has or will result in financial hardship to the applicant; (our emphasis) and

(f) they acknowledge and understand the NSW Government reserves the right to recover any grants paid if any application information is found to be false or misleading, or the grant is not used in accordance with the terms of funding set out in these guidelines.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT SERVICE NSW: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/commercial-landlord-hardship-fund-guidelines#other-information