Landlords extend rent relief to tenants

An increasing number of local landlords, including small property owners leasing commercial space outside of big shopping malls, are willing to help local retailers stay afloat during this new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic through rental concessions.

Many big developers continue to aid tenants suffering from the extraordinary decline in business since mid-March, when most parts of the country were locked down to curb the COVID-19 contagion. For instance, AboitizLand, together with the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), extended a 50-percent discount on rent covering a five-month period to industrial locators inside the Mactan Economic Zone II (MEZ II).

“We share our locator-partners’ concerns and we remain committed to helping them survive and recover swiftly from this ongoing health and economic crisis,” AboitizLand Industrial Business Unit head Eduardo Aboitiz said.

Retailers like local 7-Eleven chain operator Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC) and Shakey’s Asia Pizza Ventures Inc. likewise announced negotiations on relief packages.

In the case of PSC, bulk of the group’s close to 3,000 landlords have responded favorably to its call for them to “share the pain” during this pandemic.

“We were floored by the response,” said PSC president Victor Paterno. “We’re outperforming expectations as in last week, a third of landlords gave an unsolicited opening offer of 50-percent off. All but 10 percent said we’re all ears.”

Paterno added that PSC had withheld rental payment on 10 percent of the locations, which would now be evaluated for possible closure.

“Part of the consideration for which stores will survive will be which landlord is fair in his views in terms of prioritizing long-term mutual prosperity,” he said.

PSC earlier sent a letter to all its landlords to “serve as fair warning that we really are struggling and looking at closing other stores,” Paterno said.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the response received and grateful to the many who granted significant relief almost immediately for their bayanihan spirit, which we’d like to think almost came from the heart, as it was unsolicited other than the letter. We have asked the balance, almost all of whom have signified willingness to discuss, to tell us first what they thought was fair,” he said. INQ