Most SMEs relying mainly on their physical stores have been affected by the circuit breaker. This translates to every grant being helpful to these companies during this time and the government has recently announced another rental support for SMEs who has been seeing a drop in revenue.
Rental Waiver in Singapore
The government had previously announced Rent Waivers and Support in Singapore for businesses because of the COVID-19 circuit breaker. Rental waivers of at least two months would be given to all the SMEs in Singapore. Businesses in government property would get an additional two months waiver.
Furthermore, the government had asked landlords to give an additional two months of waiver if their tenants didn’t make a lot of income.
Now, adding on to that, if companies in private properties have seen a significant decline in their income, they will receive another two months waiver for the months of June and July.
All these translates to businesses in the Commercial sector receiving a waiver of four months during the circuit breaker period. However industrial sector tenants are only going to get a waiver of two months.
Who Will Pay the Rental Waiver in Singapore?
The government had reimbursed landlords during the previous two months. However, this time, it is the landlords who will have to take responsibility.
Nonetheless, if the landlord him/herself isn’t in the position to offer a discount due to financial difficulties, they can apply for an assessment.
Eligibilities for Companies to get the Rental Waiver
An SME should meet these conditions to get additional rental discounts
- The company should have recorded a 35{9202b9068baa856e4dcfd018327d71ffa6acda76bd645c2b9c3e44d265d187d6} or more decline in their April-May revenue.
- The annual turnover in 2019 can’t be more than $100 million.
- The company should have entered in the rental agreement before 25 March 2020.
A landlord can apply to get its tenant assessed if they are not sure if tenants meet the qualifications.
To know more about the rental waiver rules, you will need to look at a Singapore budget 2020 summary.
