SA property group increases retail tenant aid, relief guidelines for lockdown

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Property Industry Group said on Tuesday it had increased and extended its assistance and relief guidelines for retail tenants in light of the country’s extended lockdown to limit the spread of Covid-19.

The PI Group, a collective of the major representative bodies for South Africa’s real estate industry, is coordinating its response to the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically the economic effects of the national lockdown. It speaks for the commercial real estate sector, including the country’s large property owners.

“The PI Group has increased the extent of assistance, introduced more retailer categories, provided additional options for some retailers and extended the benefits from two months to three months,” said the group, which launched an initial guideline for assistance and relief for retail tenants earlier this month.

The retail tenant assistance and relief guidelines exclude office, logistics, warehousing, industrial, healthcare, hospitality and other tenants, who the group said should discuss their specific situations directly with their landlords.

The guidelines offer relief for all affected retailers, regardless of size, although small, medium and micro-sized enterprise (SMME) retailers are the focus of the initiative.