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While private landlords are providing tenants with two-week rental support, the Government is also offering rental waivers and rental relief cash payouts to eligible tenants.
Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Monday (26 July) said landlords will be required to provide their tenants with two weeks rental support due to the imposition of Phase Two (Heightened Alert) measures, reported TODAY.
He noted that private landlords were not required by the Government to provide rental relief to tenants during the earlier heightened alert period. They were only “encouraged” to do their part to match the rental relief extended by the Government.
“Many tenants, especially those in the affected food-and-beverage (F&B) and retail sectors, have told us that not all landlords were forthcoming in providing such rental support,” said Wong as quoted by TODAY.
“This time, in light of the difficulties faced by many businesses, the Government intends to require landlords to provide a matching two-week rental support to their tenants.”
The Government is providing four weeks of rental waivers to eligible tenants of government-owned commercial properties.
Meanwhile, a two-week rental relief cash payout will be given to qualifying tenant-occupiers and owner-occupiers of privately owned commercial properties under the Rental Support Scheme.
This is a departure from the Government’s earlier approach of giving the rental relief cash grants to landlords, who are expected to pass them on to tenants via rental waivers.
The scheme meant that the two-week cash grant was given directly to tenants, while landlords were encouraged to match such amounts in rental waivers such that tenants would be covered for an entire month.
But since not all landlords are matching the rental relief, the Government is now making it mandatory.
“Many told us that their situation is more strained this time. It’s not just having to enter into another heightened alert, but it’s the broader challenge of having to endure more than one and a half years’ worth of restrictions, as well as continued disruptions to their business,” said Wong.
Nonetheless, Wong acknowledged that not all landlords are in similar financial situations, with some facing difficulty sharing the burden with tenants.
With this, the authorities will set up a process wherein the circumstance of landlords will be taken into consideration, he said.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg
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Landlords insist that they had been providing rental support since first heightened alert