7) Rental Waiver Framework 2021
2021 Rental Waiver Framework for SMEs and NPOs
The COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Amendment No. 4) Bill ( “Bill”) that was passed in Parliament on 14 September 2021 provides a Rental Waiver Framework (RWF) under Part 12 of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act (“Act”) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and specified non-profit organisations (NPOs). The RWF under Part 12 of the Act and the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Rental Waiver Due To COVID-19 Event In 2021) Regulations 2021 (“Regulations”) came into force on 5 October 2021.
The RWF, which required landlords to provide 2 weeks of rental waiver to eligible tenant-occupiers, served to complement the suite of support measures introduced by the Government to alleviate the economic impact on businesses due to the tightened safe management measures imposed during the Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) [P2(HA)] periods, including the Rental Support Scheme (RSS) introduced by the Ministry of Finance.
The RWF covered the period of 5 to 18 August 2021. The acceptance of applications has concluded. For more details, please refer to Part 12 of the Act and the Regulations.