Bernier Pierre CPA | Québec | Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for Small Businesses Page |

The following Commercial Rent Subsidy Program may be of interest to you if you are commercial property owners.

Please refer to the official details of the program via link below. I recommend you to check this page regularly for updates.

To qualify for CECRA for small businesses, the commercial property owner must:

own or be the landlord of the commercial real property* which is occupied by impacted small business tenants
impacted small business tenants must have experienced at least a 70% decline in April, May and June 2020 revenue to 1) that of 2019, OR 2) to average revenue of January and February 2020
enter (or have already entered) into a rent reduction agreement for the period of April, May and June 2020, reducing an impacted small business tenant’s rent by at least 75%
ensure the rent reduction agreement with impacted tenants includes a moratorium on eviction for the period of April, May and June 2020
have declared rental income on your tax return (personal or corporate) for tax years 2018 and/or 2019
Commercial properties with mortgages, other forms of debt or no mortgages, all qualify for CECRA.

Property owners or landlords will need to apply for CECRA, not tenants.
The program offers assistance for the months of April, May and June 2020 up to 50% of the monthly gross rent
Property owners can apply later and the program will be applied retroactively.
*** If rent has been collected at the time of approval, the rent needs to be either refund to the tenant or issue a credit to the tenant for a future month’s rent (i.e. July for April) is acceptable — if agreed upon by both the property owner and the tenant. This can be a flexible 3-month period.
The deadline to apply is August 31, 2020

HOW DO I APPLY FOR THE CECRA?

Application is not available yet and it is expected to be available in late May
property owners will need to provide the following information to prove eligibility including:
- proof of an existing rent reduction agreement
- moratorium on eviction, and
- small business tenant financial hardship (i.e. attestation of 70% decline in revenue)
- ***for non-arm's length landlords and tenants, a valid and enforceable lease agreement in place prior to April 1 is required, on no greater than market rent terms.

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Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for Small Businesses