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 joined KWB in January 2011 as a part-time accounting technician subcontractor. Prior to joining KWB, she worked in a similar role with a smaller accounting firm for over twelve years but was looking for a change and KWB delivered the work environment and flexibility that she was looking for.
Along with many years of public accounting experience, Shelley brings an extensive bookkeeping background to KWB and is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QBO Advanced Certification, QB Desktop Certification and NAIT Accelerated Accounting Certification), as well as being a Workflow Implementation Specialist (or as Shelley calls it, the Cloud Whisperer), In addition to working on corporate files, she also provides remote and on-site client training and assistance in both Quickbooks and Simply Accounting.
Shelley lives outside of Sherwood Park on an acreage with her husband and two boys, three horses and two dogs. Away from work and the acreage, she enjoys camping trips with the family and afternoon trail rides with friends.
Shelley is the Treasurer for the War Horse Awareness Foundation and has been since the Foundation began.
Shelley’s favourite quotation: “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows” – Ralph Marston.
Shelley's Contact Information
- » Phone: 780 466 6204 x 828
- » Email: sricketts@kwbllp.com
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