TL;DR – A summary of what different landlords are giving their tenants.
It has almost been a week since Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the Resilience Budget.
As someone who used to be from the retail industry, I found myself subconsciously looking out for what’s in for the retailers since it’s no secret that the retail community is one of the sectors being hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Property tax and rental rebates
To help businesses overcome immediate challenges, DPM Heng declared that the Government will enhance the property tax rebate announced for the Unity Budget in February.
- For 2020, qualifying commercial properties that have been more badly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak will pay no Property Tax. These include hotels, serviced apartments, tourist attractions, shops, and restaurants. This is a step up from the 15%-30% Property Tax Rebate announced earlier.
- Businesses in other non-residential properties such as offices and industrial properties affected by the COVID-19 situation will be granted a Property Tax Rebate of 30% for the year 2020.
He also urged landlords who benefit from the rebates to fully pass on the savings to tenants by reducing rentals, so that it can directly ease the cash flow and cost pressures faced by tenants.
Rental waivers will also be enhanced to support tenants.
Facebook page Workers of Singapore has kindly put together a summary of what different landlords are giving tenants and in case you are wondering, here’s what the responsible landlords have done for their tenants so far:
From the table above, we can see these landlords are passing on the Government Property Tax Rebates to their tenants, also landlords like CapitaLand and Mercatus Cooperative Limited are suspending the rents for tenants who are affected by the Government-imposed closure of entertainment venues, tuition centres, and enrichment centres.
While we do not know how long this pandemic would last, but it certainly is heartening to know that the landlords are doing their best to help their tenants as well, because after all, a happy tenant equals a happy landlord – agree?