October 5, 2020 | Danny J. McMullen

The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (“CECRA”) was introduced by the federal government to assist small business owners who have struggled during the pandemic. The government created the program to help small businesses with their commercial rent payments, which is often one of their biggest monthly expenses. The program is administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (“CMHC”) and was originally put in place for the months of April – June. It has since been extended for the months of July, August and September.

The opt-in deadline for the CECRA program was originally September 30, 2020. However, according to the CMHC website, CMHC has now changed the deadline to opt-in for any of the extensions to October 30, 2020. Therefore, for those Landlords who already applied for the CECRA program prior to September 30, 2020 but did not exercise the optional extension rights for the months of July, August and September, they now have until the end of October to opt-in for any of those extensions.

Stikeman Elliott LLP has put together a great summary of the CECRA program, who is eligible, and describing the application process here: https://www.stikeman.com/en-ca/kh/real-estate-municipal/The-Canada-Emergency-Commercial-Rent-Assistance-Program-An-Overview.

For any landlords who would like more information about exercising their rights to extend the CECRA program for any of the months of July, August and September, Northview would be happy to schedule a consultation to discuss further. https://northviewlaw.cliogrow.com/book/uBCaiY8GacseeWp34a9A7w.