WA Premier Mark McGowan urged to wind back commercial rental relief
The WA Premier is under pressure to wind back measures forcing landlords to support commercial tenants through the COVID crisis.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan is under pressure to wind back measures that have compelled landlords to support commercial tenants through the COVID crisis, with concerns property owners are effectively subsidising other businesses.
More than four months since the last case of community transmission of coronavirus was detected in WA, commercial landlords are still restricted in their ability to negotiate with or evict tenants due to emergency measures introduced in the early days of the crisis.
Speaking at a Property Council of WA event in Perth on Friday, Mr McGowan said the government would consider whether to extend, abolish or tweak the commercial tenancies code ahead of its expiry on September 29. He noted that the code was a six-month initiative introduced by each state and the commonwealth, with each state now “struggling” to decide what to do beyond September.
“I accept the people in this room have shared the pain of this process,” he said.
While commercial landlords remain compelled to consider rental waivers and deferrals, and are hamstrung in their ability to evict tenants under the current code, Mr McGowan acknowledged that many sectors in the WA economy had recovered to — or even improved from — their pre-COVID circumstances.
“There are tenants who are back on their feet, and some businesses like supermarkets and bottle shops went through the roof while others are still suffering enormously,” he said. “It’s like everything in government, you’ve got to balance all those things.”
Property Council of WA executive director Sandra Brewer said the current code effectively required one sector of the economy to subsidise another.
“(Property owners) obviously represent a very important sector of the economy and they don’t have an ongoing ability to continue to provide relief without doing economic harm to themselves,” she said. “If the code continues there’s potential for that harm.”
The tension over the future of the code highlights the challenges facing governments across Australia as they consider whether to unwind crisis measures, even as the threat of outbreaks remains.
“The truth of the matter is this pandemic is still not over, and we still have issues to deal with,” Mr McGowan said.
But Ms Brewer said it was clear many retailers had bounced back since the peak of the crisis.
“We are now in a completely different economic environment ... We don’t believe there’s a need to continue this code in an environment of economic recovery,” she said. “It was an extraordinary move, to require property owners to support tenants through this crisis, but we don’t think there’s a case to continue it beyond September 29 in Perth.”
The focus on the outlook for WA came as the government of Victoria — the state hardest hit by the coronavirus — confirmed the rental moratorium would be extended to the end of the year.
The move drew heavy criticism from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, which described the step as a “kick in the guts” that would place a disproportionate burden on commercial property owners.
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