Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance

COVID-19 Updates & Resources

Update:  This program has been expanded to include rents for July, August and September in addition to the original period of April, May and June.  These additional months are optional and previous applicants who are interested will need to apply for the extension.     

The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA) seeks to reduce commercial rents for small to medium businesses by 75% through agreements with landlords/property owners.  The online application portal is open here at the CMHC website and will be accepting applications now.  If you have already applied for the program for April May and June, you will have to apply to opt-in for the July, August or September months.   If you have not applied you will have the option of applying for July/August/September as part of your initial application.

In BC, a commercial eviction ban is in place for as long as the CECRA program is available, and prevents landlords from evicting commercial tenants for failure to pay rent if the landlord has not applied for the CECRA.

Currently, the details of this program include:

Eligibility 

  • Funding and support is to and through the landlord, so they will have to be the ones to apply.  Business tenants are encouraged to speak to their landlords to encourage them to participate
  • The commercial property no longer needs to have a mortgage, any commercial property is eligible as long as it has eligible business tenants, including mixed-use or part-residential properties.
  • The property owner must also have declared rental income on their 2018 and/or 2019 tax returns
  • Open to small businesses, non-profits, and charitable organizations which pay up to $50,000 per month in rent
  • Tenants must also not earn more than $20 million in gross revenues
  • Businesses will need to have temporarily ceased operations or have a reduction in revenues of 70% (compared to same month in 2019, or average of Jan/Feb 2020)

Benefit Details

  • The program will seek to reduce rents by 75% for the business tenant for April, May, June, and, optionally, July, August and September rents
  • Governments (provincial and federal) will provide forgivable loans to property owners to cover 50% of the monthly rent
  • Property owners will in turn cover 25% of the rent themselves
  • Property owners must agree to a moratorium on evictions for the months in question
  • Business tenants will then pay the remaining 25%

Applying 

  • Applications will be accepted through an online portal
  • What You Need to Apply (Samples)
    • Rent Reduction Agreement (sample PDF):
      Property owners must enter into a legally binding rent reduction agreement with each impacted tenant to confirm the rent reduction in accordance with the program terms and conditions.  This agreement is conditional upon final approval of the application for CECRA for small businesses.
    • Tenant or Sub-tenant’s Attestation (sample PDF):
      Property owners must have each of their eligible commercial small business tenants and/or subtenants sign an attestation. The Tenants are responsible for attesting to their eligibility with the program requirements.
    • Property Owner’s Attestation (sample PDF):
      Property owners must sign an attestation confirming the information relating to the property owner and the property provided in the application is correct and attest to their eligibility with the program requirements.
    • Forgivable Loan Agreement (sample PDF):
      Property owners must agree to the terms and conditions in the application and outlined in the forgivable loan agreement.