Negotiating Rent Relief For Business Owners

It’s a hard time for businesses right now. We know a lot of friends with commercial and retail leases are doing it tough – whether that’s because they’re running on reduced capacity, or their businesses are currently shut.

But relief could be on the way for many. The federal government recently announced a six-month moratorium on evictions if tenants are experiencing financial distress due to Covid-19.

Additionally, earlier this month the national cabinet released a Mandatory Code of Conduct for eligible tenants with commercial and retail leases. With each state expected to legislate the code in the coming weeks, now’s the time to get prepared.

There are certain principles and conditions that apply to the code, so you should familiarise yourself before you enter any negotiations with your landlord. You can read more on the code here.

To help you get started on negotiations, our friends at Law Squared have created two free resources to guide you through negotiations with your landlord to help see you through the crisis.

These include:

A letter to your landlord This template can form the basis for discussion with your landlord, who is required to comply with the code. It includes a series of input fields allowing you to customise the letter to your needs.

A rental relief calculator The code outlines a formula for calculating the value of rent waiver and rent deferral that tenants may be eligible for. This simple calculator helps you complete that component of the letter to assist in your negotiations.

Both of these resources are now available for free download from Law Squared.

It’s important to reach out to your landlord and start a conversation as soon as you can. Ideally, you can have an agreement in place by the time your state has legislated the code and be ready to go, so you can focus on getting your business back to its best.

This article is produced in partnership with Law Squared.

Photography: Pete Dillon