Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)
The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (CECRA) has been announced to provide rent relief for small businesses struggling to pay their landlords due to financial hardship as a result of COVID-19 for the months of April, May and June 2020.
Who is Eligible?
Affected small business tenants who meet the following criteria:
- Pay less than $50,000 per month in rent and;
- Have temporarily ceased operations or have experienced at least a 70% drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues
Non-profits and charities who meet the criteria are also able to apply and benefit from this program.
Program Details
The program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50% of rent payments payable by eligible small business tenants during April, May and June.
The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75% for the three months under a rent forgiveness agreement. The agreement will also contain a pledge to not evict the tenant while the agreement is in place.
Rent allocation under the program would be as follows:
Tenant 25%
Property Owner 25%
Fed. & Prov. Government 50%
How to Apply
Application details are still being sorted out and more information should be available in the coming days. These are the details that have been announced so far:
- The Federal Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. will administer and deliver the program and the program is expected to be operational by mid-May.
- The forgivable loans will be disbursed directly to the mortgage lender.
Property owners are encouraged to provide flexibility to tenants facing hardships in this uncertain time.
If you would like more information or have any questions, feel free to contact us at 780.466.6204, or click here to send us an email.
Thanks to Shelley Ricketts of KWB Chartered Professional Accountants for providing this content.
Shelley Ricketts
Cloud Accounting Manager
Shelley completed her NAIT Accelerated Accounting Certification in 2001 and is also a Certified Quickbooks ProAdvisor (QBO Advanced Certification and QB Desktop Certification).
Along with many years of public accounting experience, Shelley was a self-employed contractor providing bookkeeping services and software training for 20 years and gained invaluable experience and exposure to a wide range of industries. She knows what it means to be a business owner and to be passionate about what you do.
Shelley has been with KWB for a long time! Starting out as a contractor in January 2011, she took a leap of faith and joined the team full time in October 2018 as their newly appointed Cloud Accounting Manager. She wears a lot of hats in this role but her favourite space is finding and supporting cloud based solutions for business owners that make their lives easier!
Shelley has two wonderful, witty sons who take pleasure in the fact they get to call her ‘shorty’. She also has the cutest little Frenchie named “Mango” who excels at being a couch potato as well as providing endless entertainment in the midst of Zoom meetings.
Outside of work, Shelley loves to spend time camping, hiking and just getting out into nature. She also is passionate about horses (she owns 3!) and enjoys trail riding and getting out into the mountains when she can.
Shelley's Contact Information
- » Phone: 780 466 6204 x 828
- » Email: sricketts@kwbllp.com
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