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About $1.8 billion in property tax rebates and 115,990 cash grant notices were issued to eligible property owners.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said eligible property owners received around $900 million in cash grants under a rental relief framework put in place last year to help businesses stay afloat amid the pandemic, reported The Straits Times (ST).
About $1.8 billion in property tax rebates was also given out to owners. During the period covered under the framework, tenants need not worry of paying rent.
ST noted that 115,990 cash grant notices were issued to property owners with eligible tenants under the framework.
Although the assistance supported many industrial and commercial tenants, some businesses still faced additional challenges.
With this, the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) received over 8,400 notifications for relief in 2020 under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act. This comes as some businesses and individuals were unable to fulfil their contractual obligations.
MinLaw revealed that 3,005 out of the 8,428 notifications for relief served involved licences and leases of non-residential property.
Recommended article: Rental Relief Guide for Commercial Tenants during COVID-19
About 1,869 applicants requested for an assessor since there was a dispute. Of that number, 769 related to leases.
“We were heartened to see that of the notifications for relief filed, the majority did not require an assessor to make a determination. We also saw parties who originally applied for a determination but were subsequently able to negotiate and reach an agreement by themselves,” said a MinLaw spokesman as quoted by ST.
The relief period ended on 19 November 2020.
The reliefs protected businesses from legal and enforcement actions or from having their leases terminated or their goods from being repossessed, among others, said ST.
As at end-2020, there were 3,214 applications for assessment under the rental relief framework. Of these, 2,123 were filed to assess the eligibility of tenants for rental relief, 720 applications were for landlord’s assessment for financial difficulties and 371 to determine rental waiver, said MinLaw.
Qualified tenants and sub-tenants within the food and beverage as well as the commercial sector may receive up to four months of rental waiver, two months from the government and another two months from the landlord.
Those in the industrial and office sector, on the other hand, could receive up to two months of rental waiver.
The application period of the additional rent waivers fun from April to July 2020 for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) within commercial properties and from April to May last year for those in office/industrial properties, provided their leases remain in force on 1 April.
The measures benefitted almost 260,000 SMEs employing over two million workers.
Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) President Kurt Wee said the downturn would have been worse had it not been for the rental relief framework and other measures.
“Many more jobs would have been lost, many more shops would have closed, and it would have resulted in the real estate sector having an even bigger shift downwards. The downward cycle that the rental relief framework and various schemes arrested is extremely critical,” he said as quoted by ST.
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