Good morning

As you may be aware, last night the Prime Minister announced a moratorium on evictions of both commercial and residential tenants for a period of 6 months.  It is vitally important to note that there was no mention that rents were to be either reduced or forgiven or if there is a requirement to repay the arrears.  We are once again at the mercy of the Government before we can advise further on this matter.

The announcement was not entirely clear and the Prime Minister said further information is to follow in the coming days because there is a lot to consider.  Once the announcement occurs, we will be seeking further clarification on the directives received.

We will be contacting all landlords where the tenants have advised they are having employment issues and cannot pay their rent, so if you haven’t heard from us in this regard; it is because your tenant has not indicated they have a problem at this stage.

We understand that this may cause some issues for some landlord clients who rely on the rent for loan repayments and/or general living expenses; however there may be options available.  I strongly recommend you contact your financier to explore any options they can provide you with should your tenant not be in a position to honour their rent payments.  Some banks have released incentives for clients eg:  offering a 6 month “holiday” from loan repayments.   It is also advisable to consult your financial planners/accountants to establish your best option and this also includes whether you wish to sell the property.  If you would like a market assessment, please contact me on 0438 251 222 or email me back and I can arrange this so you have everything available for consideration.

At this stage, we do not want you to be concerned until we know further information.  The government has offered significant financial help so far and has indicated more is on the way.

Based on advice from our Industry Body, we have cancelled all routine inspections for another 2 weeks and will monitor this as per Government recommendations.

Together with the right advice we will get through these times.

As soon as we have an update and some direction around all of this we will be in touch.

In the meantime, please take care.