States and Territories respond to Commercial Tenancies Code with complementary relief

Now that the Government’s measures regarding the protection of the rental system are becoming clearer and we have the release of the Commercial Tenancies Code as a guideline, we are now seeing the States announcing their approach to the promised ‘complementary relief’ in relation to land tax. 

The common theme seems to be that relief is designed to assist landlords who are impacted by the requirement to provide rental waivers and deferrals where there has been an adverse impact due to COVID-19, although some measures do not require that connection. We are finding that these measures are a moving target as State and Territories announce their own measures, with Queensland and New South Wales making announcements over the Easter weekend and Victoria on 15 April.

The measures are summarised in the table below, along with already announced measures which do not relate to the removal of the right to evict due to non-payment of rent. The table will be updated as and when further detail is announced, noting that details set out on the relevant revenue websites (and enabling legislation) tend to lag the Government announcements