‘I’m talking about hitting the pause button’: Small business landlords and tenants say they need rent relief

As the federal government rolls out help for citizens and small businesses, and large real estate corporations offer forgiveness to their tenants, smaller landlords say they're being left behind during the COVID-19 crisis.

Many can't afford to lose a month of rent payments without falling behind on their own expenses, and they're urging the government to help them and their tenants weather the pandemic.

Michael Batterbee is one of those landlords. He owns and operates a three-storey building in the Danforth area. It's his retirement plan - he lives in one of the six residential apartments, above two commercial spaces, one of which is currently vacant for renovations.

Between the mortgage, taxes, repairs and other costs, Batterbee makes just enough to live on. He said many small landlords are just like him - "not rich," paying off a mortgage and working hard to keep the building running.

"It's not a small job to keep the building running smoothly," he said.

At the beginning of March, he began checking on his tenants weekly to see if they were OK, and to let them know they could come to him if they had trouble paying their rent. But he can't be flexible forever, he said. "I don't have a lot of wiggle room."

Batterbee said if his tenants simply stop paying rent, their debt will just add up too. The solution seems clear to him: not just a deferral, but some form of government relief.

He feels many don't realize the situation smaller landlords may be in.

"If I didn't have a mortgage, I wouldn't take my tenants' rent," he said.

According to Philip Kocev, Broadview Danforth BIA spokesperson and a small-business owner, Batterbee isn't alone. Kocev said the majority of landlords in the area are small, and many have B-lenders or private lenders and don't qualify for a mortgage deferral.

Those who are with big five banks are not getting the same approval rate as residential mortgage holders, Kocev said. "It's very client-specific."

The BIA and its businesses are asking for rent relief from the government, as well as a ban on evictions for commercial tenants.

Many of the small businesses in the area are struggling to pay their rent, said Kocev. Many don't qualify for the government-backed $40,000 loan, and many are food service businesses with only a month or two of contingency funding.

Ginger Robertson is one of those tenants. She and her husband own and operate two food service businesses. One has closed, and the other is still offering takeout.

Robertson is sympathetic to her landlord, who can't afford to offer rent relief. She believes the relief should come from the government before her personal savings are depleted.

"I'm not talking about deferrals. I'm talking about hitting the pause button," she said.

"It's the only way."

Vittoria Giovanetti owns a small business in Vaughan, a men's shirt store sourced from Italy. She said her landlord has been understanding but has been unable to get his mortgage deferred and has asked her to contribute what she can for now.

"What we need is interest-free money," she said.

Giovanetti wants an eviction freeze for commercial tenants to mirror the one in place for residential tenants - while her landlord has been compassionate, she knows not all will be.

Besides, "I understand his plight also," she said.

Once Giovanetti knows both she and her landlord either have the cash to pay their bills or have the interest on their loans and mortgages waived, "then I can sleep at night."

She, too, would support a big pause. "By September, hopefully we'll be able to see where we're going."

But Djanka Gajdel, a landlord with three commercial tenants and a spokesperson for the West Queen West BIA, wants more talk about long-term solutions.

Because her mortgage has been deferred, Gajdel has been able to give her tenants some relief. But she and others "can only afford to do that for a couple of months."

The pandemic has laid bare the vulnerability of small businesses, said Gajdel. She wants the "new normal" the include open-minded thinking about ways to source public revenue that doesn't involve raising their taxes.

"Everything has to be put on the table," she said.

"(This pandemic) has shown how flawed the system is ... It's showing us how we can rebuild."

Correction - April 6, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version to update an incorrect photo caption. The previous version misstated the address of the building that Michael Batterbee owns.

Rosa Saba is a Calgary-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rosajsaba