As the number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore continue to rise, businesses have been hit especially hard by declining numbers of customers and forced closures.
That’s why many tenants will be getting help in terms of rental waivers. And the Government will be setting an example — it will further support its own tenants by increasing the amount of rental waivers they will be getting, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in Parliament on Monday (6 Apr).
Mr Heng, who is also finance minister, was delivering what is being called the Solidarity Budget — a 3rd tranche of measures to provide support to businesses and individuals to cushion the economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s also the first time in Singapore’s history that the Government has announced 3 Budgets in just a couple of weeks.
Government agencies’ tenants in office, industrial and agricultural properties were supposed to get half a month of rent waived, according to the Resilience Budget announced in 26 Mar.
Now, in the $5.1 billion Solidarity Budget, this will be raised to one month.
For hawkers who have stalls in properties managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) or operators appointed by the NEA, they will get 3 months worth of rent waived.
Tenants of commercial properties will get 2 months worth of rent waived.
During the previous Budget, Mr Heng also announced that there would be a 100% rebate in property tax for non-residential properties.
The commercial properties that qualify for this rebate will be those adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, including the likes of hotels, service apartments, tourist attractions, shops and restaurants.
The waiver was intended for landlords to help their tenants out by reducing their rent, effectively passing down these rebates to them.
Now, as some tenants have pointed out that the rebates afforded to their landlords were not passed on to them, Mr Heng said that Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam will propose the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Bill that will make it an offence for landlords not to pass on the rebate.
The Bill will also allow companies to postpone obligations mandated by contracts, like repayment of loans and payment of rent.
On Sunday (5 Apr), the number of new Covid-19 cases in Singapore hit an all-time high of 120.
Circuit-breaker measures to stop the spread of the virus will kick in on Tuesday (6 Apr), and will see most workplaces and all schools closing.
We hope the additional measures announced by Mr Heng will help more people affected by the measures.
Featured image adapted from Facebook and YouTube.
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