Ian Mitchie, Robin Gilmore: Lismore businesses plead for faster support

Landlords and business owners in Lismore’s CBD are pleading for a faster rollout of grants and more opportunities to access funds as the window to re-open begins to close.

Lismore business owners and CBD landlords say the window to rebuild the town is closing.

Business owners are running down their savings as they wait for approval for major business grants while landlords feel like they have been left out of the picture..

According to Service NSW, over $12 million has been paid out to small businesses through the Storm and Flood Business Grant as of May 17.

Meanwhile over 1,000 grants have been approved but are yet to be paid or are waiting for applicants to provide more information before processing them.

Almost three months after the catastrophic flood that damaged thousands of properties, approximately two dozen businesses are trading in the Lismore CBD.

Institutional venues like The Civic Hotel on Molesworth Street are running down their savings as they wait for word on their flood grant application.

Robin Gilmore has owned The Civic Hotel since 2000 and previously owned and sold it on three other occasions.

Alongside assistant manager Brad Crouch, the crew says the entire town of Lismore has been “left behind”.

“It’s a joke,” Crouch said.

“We still don’t have power nine weeks later, we can’t get building materials, so that’s obviously a big kicker, we are still waiting on trades.

“We are chewing through savings and we are working the kitty down very quickly”

The team at The Civic Hotel have applied for the $50,000 small business grant but need to spend the money up front before being reimbursed.

The operators have to provide receipts and invoices for materials and stock being replaced before the grant can be processed.

While they wait to hear back on their grants, which have taken over a month, the eight people employed at the pub are all on centrelink payments.

“We are chewing through our savings and all of us are on centrelink,” Crouch said.

“That’s about $750 a fortnight and my rent is 450, it barely covers that.”

Anger among businesses is growing however landlords have rarely featured in the conversation about the rebuild.

Ian Mitchie owns a building on Keen Street in Lismore with three commercial tenants at Cut Loose hairdressers, Dirty’s burger place and Scoops & Candy lolly store.

Ian Mitchie fears landlords are being left behind in Lismore as his building which houses CBD businesses, Dirty's, Cut Loose and Scoops & Candy requires over $100,000 worth of repairs. Picture: Nicholas Rupolo

He also is a landlord for two residential units on the second floor of the building and has owned it for five years.

His bill to fix the building, he believes, is more than $100,000 but he is yet to find a suitable grant that can help him cover his costs.

Mr Mitchie was unable to access a number of flood grants.

“I started to apply for a small business grants but I’m not sure I qualify. If you read the fine print, a building owner who rents a space out doesn’t qualify,” he said.

“I have fallen through the crack, if I don’t commit to spending the money to get the building back into shape it’s three businesses and two residents who don’t come back.

“The governments seem intent on supporting small business but not landlords”.

Keen Street businesses, Dirty's, Cut Loose and Scoops & Candy require over $100,000 worth of repairs. Picture: Nicholas Rupolo

Mr Mitchie confirmed Dirty’s will not return to their Keen Street store.

He notes the business recovery has barely got off the ground as shopfronts remain abandoned while tradies are nowhere to be seen.

“The ceiling came out and the walls have come out which is a landlords responsibility, if I can’t afford to put them back the business has to go somewhere else but where will tradies come from to do the work?” Mitchie said.

“It would be nice if there was more support for landlords, there would be some who don’t have a lot of access to much spare cash”.

The NSW government announced support for residential landlords with a $15,000 grant as part of the Back Home scheme but there have not been any specific commitments for commercial landlords.