If you’re a small commercial or retail landlord, you may be eligible for a grant under the commercial landlord hardship fund if your main source of income is impacted due to providing rent relief to tenants financially impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

Grants of up to $3,000 per month (GST inclusive), per property, are available for eligible landlords who have provided rental waivers to affected tenants. Rent waived must comprise at least half of any rental reduction provided. The remaining portion may be a rental deferral. The grant does not apply to rent deferrals. For more information, see the guidelines.

Grants will be paid as a lump sum amount for the rent waived from:

  • 1 August to 14 November 2021
  • 15 November 2021 to 13 January 2022
  • 14 January to 13 March 2022. Landlords who have claimed 2021 land tax relief are eligible for payments for rent relief provided during this period.

Applications close 31 May 2022.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a commercial landlord hardship grant, you must:

  • be the landlord of a property in NSW
  • have an agreement to provide rental relief to tenants from 13 July 2021 (Note: a minimum 30% rental reduction is required per eligibility requirements of the 2021 COVID-19 micro-business grant, COVID-19 business grant and JobSaver payment.)
  • for rent waived between 1 August 2021 and 13 January 2022, have not claimed, or will not claim, land tax relief between 1 July and 31 December 2021.
    Landlords who have claimed land tax relief between 1 July and 31 December 2021 are eligible to apply for rent waived between 14 January and 13 March 2022.
  • have total land holdings valued at $5 million or less as at 31 December 2020, excluding the value of your principal residence
  • have more than 50% of your total income derived from gross rental income for the 2019–20 or 2020–21 financial year
  • if you are a business, attest that providing rent relief to your tenants may cause you financial hardship because you:
    • are at imminent risk of closure, or
    • are unable to pay for operating expenses, including rent or employee-related expenses for employing business landlords, or
    • may be forced to reduce employee headcount if you are an employing business landlord, and
    • have not incurred excessive and non-essential business expenses, and
    • have experienced a decline in revenue due to the impact of the NSW public health orders, and
    • cannot rearrange finances or draw upon non-essential assets to continue operation.
  • if you are an individual or hold property on trust, attest to financial hardship if you:
    • are unable to maintain your current standard of living for yourself or your immediate family, and
    • have not incurred excessive and non-essential living expenses.

To apply, refer to Services NSW website.