Further to our previous blog post, additional information has been
provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
regarding the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program
(CECRA). Details of this information can be viewed here.
Recapping our previous post, under the voluntary program, loans
will be provided to qualifying commercial landlords to cover 50% of
rent payments for April, May and June, 2020. For a tenant to
qualify it must: (a) pay less than $50,000 a month in rent; and (b)
either: (i) have experienced a decline in revenue of at least 70%
from pre-COVID-19 levels; or (ii) have temporarily ceased business
operations. The loans will be forgiven if the landlord agrees to
reduce the tenant's rent by at least 75% for these months under
a rent forgiveness agreement, which must also include the
Landlord's agreement to not evict the tenant while the
agreement is in place.
