Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy
Givens LLP | December 10, 2020
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Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
The subsidy is available starting September 27th and covers 4-week periods until ending in June 2021. This subsidy will provide payments directly to qualifying renters and property owners, without requiring the participation of landlords. In summary:
- Amount is based on eligible expenses multiplied by a factor which is determined by your decrease in revenue
- If your business was locked down by a public health order there is additional subsidy amounts available.
- If you rent and have a written agreement in place prior to October 9, 2020 you can claim the following amounts paid or payable to an arm’s-length party. They are:
- base rent
- regular payments for customary operating expenses, such as
- property insurance
- utilities
- common area maintenance
- property and similar taxes, including school and municipal taxes
- regular payments to the lessor for customary ancillary services
- If you own the property and use it primarily for your own business use you can claim amounts paid or payable to an arm’s-length party:
- Interest on the mortgage
- Property taxes
- Property insurance
- If the amounts above are only payable, then you must attest that you will pay them within 60 days of receive the subsidy.
To apply we will require for each location:
- Address
- Landlords name, contact and phone number
- Expenses for each month in the subsidy period (ie: first period is September 27 to October 25, will need September expenses and October expenses) for each location
- Any dates the premises was under lock-down
- Revenue for the months in the subsidy for 2020 and for 2019