In forceAmendedUpdated to 1 Jul 2026

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COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 · Updated to 1 Jul 2026 · Part 2A · Rental Relief and Related Measures

19J. Additional rental relief

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2020.

(1)

Subject to Division 4 and the regulations mentioned in section 19E, on the date the owner of a prescribed property receives a notice of cash grant pertaining to a PTO of that property, the following (called in this Part the additional rental relief) are also treated as waived:

(a)

the prescribed amount of rent that is payable for a prescribed period in the relevant period under a lease agreement between each tenant of that property in the PTO chain and that tenant’s landlord;

(b)

any interest or other charge (however described) payable under the lease agreement on the amount waived under paragraph (a).

(2)

If subsection (1) applies, then, despite any law or anything in the lease agreement —

(a)

the tenant is not liable for rent that is payable under the lease agreement for the prescribed period of an amount up to the prescribed amount, and for any interest or other charge on that amount;

(b)

if the tenant has already paid to the tenant’s landlord any rent for all or any part of the prescribed period (including any interest or other charge on such rent) under the lease agreement, then the rent payable by the tenant for the remaining period of the lease agreement is reduced by the amount paid up to the prescribed amount (called in this section the deductible amount), in the order described in paragraph (c);

(c)

for the purposes of paragraph (b), the rent payable for the earliest period of time under the lease agreement is reduced first, followed by the rent payable for the next earliest period and so on; and

(d)

if paragraph (b) is inapplicable, or there is any balance of the deductible amount remaining after any reduction under that paragraph, the tenant’s landlord must immediately refund to the tenant the deductible amount or the balance, and the deductible amount or the balance is recoverable from the tenant’s landlord as a debt due to the tenant.

(3)

To avoid doubt, the amount of additional rental relief given under this section to a tenant of a prescribed property is not limited to or determined by the amount of cash grant disbursed under the terms of the public scheme that pertains to a PTO of the property.

Terms defined in this Act

landlord
Defined · s 19B
“landlord”, for any property, includes a lessor, sub-lessor, licensor or sub-licensor for that property, but excludes a person or class of persons prescribed as not being a landlord or landlords;
Open s 19B
lease agreement
Defined · s 19B
“lease agreement”, for any property, includes a lease or licence for that property;
Open s 19B
notice of cash grant
Defined · s 19B
“notice of cash grant” means a notice issued under section 19F by the Authority to the owner of a prescribed property;
Open s 19B
prescribed period
Defined · s 2
“prescribed period” —(a)in relation to Part 1 or 3 — means the period prescribed under section 3 as extended or shortened under that section for Part 1 or 3; and(b)in relation to any scheduled contract in Part 2 — means the period prescribed under section 3 as extended or shortened under that section for that Part or for a description of contracts to which that contract belongs, as the case may be;
Open s 2
prescribed property
Defined · s 19B
“prescribed property” means any prescribed non-residential property or any property belonging to a prescribed class of non-residential property, and includes any part of such property;
Open s 19B
property
Defined · s 19B
“property” includes any part of the property;
Open s 19B
PTO
Defined · s 19B
“prescribed tenant-occupier” or “PTO” means a tenant of any prescribed property who satisfies the prescribed criteria and who is an occupier of the property;
Open s 19B
PTO chain
Defined · s 19B
“PTO chain”, for a PTO of a prescribed property, means a chain of landlords and tenants of that property ending with the PTO;
Open s 19B
public scheme
Defined · s 19B
“public scheme” means the public scheme for the giving of cash grants to mitigate rental costs, that is part of the Budget Statement of the Government dated 26 May 2020;
Open s 19B
relevant period
Defined · s 19B
“relevant period” means the period starting on 1 April 2020 and ending on the prescribed date;
Open s 19B
rent
Defined · s 19B
“rent” includes licence fee and any matter that is prescribed as being rent, but excludes any service charge and maintenance charge and any other matter that is prescribed as not being rent;
Open s 19B
tenant
Defined · s 19B
“tenant”, for any property, includes a lessee, sub-lessee, licensee or sub-licensee for that property, but excludes a person or class of persons prescribed as not being a tenant or tenants.
Open s 19B