Florida Road in Durban, normally a booming business hub, is currently deserted due to a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown. File photo: Doctor Ngcobo/African News Agency (ANA)
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Property Industry Group said on Tuesday it had increased and extended its assistance and relief guidelines for retail tenants in light of the country's extended lockdown to limit the spread of Covid-19.
The PI Group, a collective of the major representative bodies for South Africa's real estate industry, is coordinating its response to the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically the economic effects of the national lockdown. It speaks for the commercial real estate sector, including the country’s large property owners.
"The PI Group has increased the extent of assistance, introduced more retailer categories, provided additional options for some retailers and extended the benefits from two months to three months," said the group, which launched an initial guideline for assistance and relief for retail tenants earlier this month.
The retail tenant assistance and relief guidelines exclude office, logistics, warehousing, industrial, healthcare, hospitality and other tenants, who the group said should discuss their specific situations directly with their landlords.
The guidelines offer relief for all affected retailers, regardless of size, although small, medium and micro-sized enterprise (SMME) retailers are the focus of the initiative.
"The PI Group proposes that small and micro retailers are given rental discounts of up to 100 percent for April, with further substantial rental discounts and interest-free rental deferrals for May and June respectively," it said.
The industry’s assistance and relief guidelines stipulate that all tenants with accounts in good standing as at February 29 will not be evicted during the lockdown period applicable to them and will qualify for some form of assistance from participating landlords, provided they undertake not to retrench staff during the relief period.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to all large businesses not to resort to force majeure due to the lockdown and stop paying their suppliers and rental commitments, saying this would have a domino effect on all other businesses dependent on that chain.
"For the property sector, this value chain includes more than 300,000 jobs directly and indirectly through its service providers such as security, cleaning, hygiene and technical services, and building and construction," the PI Group said, noting that the property sector was South Africa's largest contributor to municipal rates and taxes.
It said it was committed to paying its suppliers in full, including cleaning and security providers, and taking on the increased cost of enhanced hygiene to protect against the spread of Covid-19.
The group said it was also paying its rates and taxes which were vital in supporting the sustainability of municipalities countrywide and by extension supporting the grass level communities and households among which both property and retail sectors conducted business.
"South Africa's property sector has voluntarily committed to the relief guidelines even though it hasn’t received any sources of relief, and we’re shouldering our share of the pain," PI Group spokesperson and chairman of the South African Real Estate Investment Trust Association Estienne de Klerk said.
"We are paying our full obligations while giving retail tenants substantial discounts and we have gone as far as we can in assisting retail tenants with our updated proposal."
Article Source: https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/sa-property-group-increases-retail-tenant-aid-relief-guidelines-for-lockdown-47282484
