Mall tenants in limbo over rental relief

When the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown kicked in on April 2, a majority of tenants in malls closed their doors and despite not having made any revenue during the month. BusinessWeek is informed that most property owners demanded their lease dues at the end of the month.

By contrast, in South Africa, the Property Industry (PI) Group, a collective of the major representative bodies for real estate in SA, launched guidelines for assistance and relief for retail tenants on April 7, 2020 and later extended these to all affected retailers, especially the hardest-hit SMME retailers.