Victoria

The Victorian Government has introduced new measures in order to assist landlords and tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The $500 million package aims to give certainty to landlords and tenants during the outbreak which has caused economic disruption. The emergency legislation will be put to Parliament next Thursday.

Rent increases and evictions will be illegal for six months in both residential and commercial sectors, to assist tenants who cannot pay their rent because of the pandemic.

The Andrews government is encouraging landlords to discount their rent, and introducing a $420 million land tax relief to do so. Landlords who offer rent relief to tenants that have been impacted by the virus, will be eligible for a 25 per cent discount on their land tax while the remaining land tax can be deferred until March next year.

Residential tenants will be eligible for rent assistance from an $80 million fund. They will be eligible if they earn less than $100,000 per annum and have less than $5,000 in savings.

NSW

The New South Wales Government is also in the process of finalising their assistance package to assist landlords and tentants. A six month moratorium on residential tenancy evictions has also been put in place.

For more information, please click here.

We will provide further updates on these assistance packages once they have been put to Parliament.

If you have any other concerns, or your business has been impacted by COVID-19, please get in contact with our supportive team so we can help.

We hope you and your families remain safe.

Updated 15 April 2020