Thailand
Thailand: Treasury mulls rent rejig
The Treasury Department might consider lowering its land and building rental fee to 25% of its normal rate on a case-by-case basis, with the aim of easing the burden on tenants given the prolonged pandemic, says Yuttana Yimgarund, the department’s director-general.
He said many tenants have been suffering from declining revenue since early last year when the pandemic broke out.
The department already lowered the rental fee by half for tenants on a case-by-case basis, or let them postpone fee payment to cushion against the impact.
As the pandemic remains an emergency, the department is pondering a further reduction in the rental fee. The fee could be cut to 25% of the normal rate, or even rental waivers are possible for those hardest hit by the pandemic, said Mr Yuttana.
Any new measure would be applied on a case-by-case basis for tenants who have never requested a fee reduction. Those already receiving a rental reduction have to wait until next year to apply under a new measure, he said.
Under the existing relief measure, the department lowered the rental fee for more than 10 tenants, including Airports of Thailand.
The department has more than 500,000 tenants occupying its land and buildings, most of whom are farmers and those renting its land for residential purposes.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2151039/treasury-mulls-rent-rejig