COVID Regulations for commercial leases extended

18 September 2020

The moratorium on the ability of commercial landlords to evict tenants will be extended by 3 months to 31 December 2020 as announced by Queensland’s Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Yvette D’Ath.

Under the Retail Shop Lease and Other Commercial Lease (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Regulation 2020, the ‘response period’ ends on 30 September 2020 (see our summary of the Regulation here).

It is not yet clear what the Minister has in mind.

Deferring the end date to 31 December 2020 would have the effect of preventing commercial landlords from taking ‘prescribed action’ (which includes terminating leases or claiming on bank guarantees) for a further 3 months.

It is also unclear whether any other changes to the Regulation are proposed. One possibility is there may be other changes to the type of rent relief that must be offered to tenants under affected leases.

The Property Council has strongly advocated for the Regulation to be amended to remove the requirement for landlords to offer 50% of rent relief in the form of a rent waiver.

This information is intended to provide a general summary only and should not be relied on as a substitute for legal advice.