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Govt rent relief scheme 'too little too late'

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Thu, 4 Jun 2020, 6:09PM
Justice Minister Andrew Little. (Photo / File)
Justice Minister Andrew Little. (Photo / File)

Govt rent relief scheme 'too little too late'

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Thu, 4 Jun 2020, 6:09PM

The Property Council believes the Government's commercial rent arbitration scheme is too little, too late.

The Government is forcing rent negotiations between stuck commercial tenants and landlords, which has been a long time coming after being held up by the New Zealand First Party.

Justice minister Andrew Little said they are pleased they were able to have constructive discussions this week, which led to the agreement.

He added they now have a workable arrangement that will help tenants and landlords a lot more.

Leonie Freeman from the Property Council told Heather du Plessis-Allan this arrangement has taken too long.

"At a time really where we're coming out of lockdown and into recovery, we need to be focusing on how we get our businesses back going. This is looking backwards now for two months when we've just had a whole lot of people negotiating rents and getting settlements."

Ms Freeman said it is causing a lot of uncertainty for tenants and landlords.

She said the focus should be on getting businesses back to normal, not bringing up issues they have already spent two months going through.

 

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