COVID-19 assistance for tourism lease, licence and permit holders
COVID-19 update - State land rent waiver
In response to the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the Queensland Government is providing rent relief for holders of tourism leases, licences and permits to occupy on state land.
Depending on your tenure type, support includes:
State land rent waiver
Rent for eligible tourism lessees, licensees and permit holders was waived for the period 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020.
A further waiver for eligible tourism tenures now applies for the period 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021. Details of the current waiver are set out below.
Eligibility
Tourism leases, licences or permits to occupy are eligible for a rent waiver if they are currently operating under their lease, licence or permit.
The following are not eligible for a rent waiver:
- Leases, licences or permits that are held by a commonwealth, state or local government entity, or a statutory authority or Government owned corporation
- Leases, licences or permits on minimum rent.
If you are not eligible for a rent waiver, you may still apply to defer your rent.
You do not need to take any action to receive the rent waiver. We will automatically waive your rent.
Lessees who receive a waiver and have tenants who are operating a commercial business must commit to pass on an appropriate amount of land rent savings to these tenants, otherwise the rent waiver may be removed.
How the rent waiver works
If you receive rental invoices quarterly, we have waived the payment of rental invoices due in the following periods:
- 1 October 2020 to 31 December 2020
- 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021
You will not receive a rental invoice for these periods.
The following arrangements apply if you receive rental invoices annually:
- The annual rent invoice for the 2020-21 billing period will be adjusted to remove the rental amount due from 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021. This rent invoice will be sent on 1 May 2021 and payment will be due on 1 June 2021.
If the calculated adjustment results in your rental payment being lower than the minimum rent payable for your rental category, you will only receive an adjustment down to the minimum rent.
Tourism rent deferral
Lessees or licences for tourism purposes with an approved deferral of rent for the period 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 will have the deferral extended. Payment of rent for this period will now be due on 31 March 2021.