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Assistance With Claiming Your Rent Rebate in COVID

Claiming your rent rebate brydanwoods

Assistance With Claiming Your Rent Rebate in COVID

COVID-19 has caused a devastating impact on the economy. While the online business industry is soaring, the classic brick and mortar businesses face an inevitable question – how could they afford to pay the rent while the business is closed?

The NATIONAL CABINET MANDATORY CODE OF CONDUCT and Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation 2020 set out the initial guideline for tenants and landlords to go thru this crisis season.

Definition

SMEs are small, medium-sized enterprises. Referring to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001, section 12BC, SMEs are businesses that employ less than 20 employees or manufacturing businesses that employ less than 100 employees. However, in each legislation, SMEs’ meaning will be varied.

The Retail Leases Act 1994 No 46 section 3 defines a tenant /lessee as a person who occupies premises set out in the Lease contract and a landlord/lessor as a person who grants the right to occupy the premises. In reality, the lessee or lessor may be a person, an entity, or a group of people and entities.

Key Features

To be eligible under the scheme, you need to prove that your business is:

  • a SMEs with a turnover of fewer than 50 million
  • Like for like comparison of a prescribed period that shows a decrease in turnover of 30%.
  • Evidence of any business grants you have received from the Governments.

To show that you are an eligible SME, you will need to have:

  • a letter of confirmation or certification from an eligible accountant; or
  • any related documents which show turnover is below the threshold. eg: Business Activity Statement.

The prescribed period is set out in the regulations and varied in each state. Notwithstanding the above mentioned documents, the Lessor may also require other ancillary documents from you to support the claim.

Conclusion

In NSW, The National Cabinet Mandatory Code of Conduct (the Code) was reenacted from 13 July 2021 to 22 January 2022. Contact us today for assistance with claiming your rent rebate.