HALIFAX -- For many Maritime businesses, rent was due Wednesday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the region. With thousands of businesses forced to close during this time, some say they are uncertain whether they have the resources to cover their bills.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil announced a rent deferral program Friday for small business operators that were forced to close under the public health order.
“In order for us as an economy to come through this, we need these commercial landlords to recognize they need to provide a break, to defer the rent,” says McNeil.
Under the program, retail and commercial landlords are encouraged to defer lease payments for the next three months for businesses that had to close. Landlords who participate by granting businesses a three-month deferral can claim losses of up to $5,000 per month, if the renting business does not continue operating.
Devin Sherrington is the operator of three fitness centres around the Halifax Regional Municipality. He has been trying to work out a deal on paying rent for each of his gyms, at a time when he’s not bringing in revenue.
“Of the three landlords, only one was interested in really talking that much,” says Sherrington.
“The other two basically said, ‘pay your rent’ up until last night and suddenly I started getting e-mails from my landlord saying here is the rent deferral agreement, sign this, get this done quick and we'll all be OK.”
However, Sherrington says the rent deferral program would leave him vulnerable to racking up debt, with no guarantee of being able to pay it off.
“I don't know that I'll be open in July, so I'm not willing to sign any paperwork with everything so up in the air,” says Sherrington.
It’s a feeling shared by Andrea Munroe, who owns a family shop in Truro, N.S.
“In effect, it's a loan. So we're deferring our rent but our revenues are not deferred,” says Munroe.
Carol Doman is the co-owner of several optometry clinics in the Halifax area. She has found that not every landlord is taking part in the rent-deferral program.
“We have five different landlords. To be fair we haven't heard back from two of them as of yet, two of them said no, and one is offering to defer our base rent for the month of April, which represents about 60 per cent of our rent. So, that is definitely better than nothing, but it seems like the uptake of the rent deferral program is very low,” says Doman.
Munroe says she was able to pay the rent on time Wednesday.
“I can't say with certainty that I'll have enough money in the bank on May 1. I hope so, because if we can make it that far, maybe we can make it the rest of the way,” says Munroe.
“I am an entrepreneur. I'm not throwing in the towel.”
