Face of Nation International : John Van Lieshout has declined to extend rent relief to all businesses across his $1 billion-plus property portfolio. Commercial landlords will be banned from evicting their tenants after the national cabinet on Sunday announced a six-month moratorium.
Mr Van Lieshout said he was considering requests for rent relief but would not commit until he knew what the Government was doing.
His company has asked tenants to detail any government assistance they will receive, which after yesterday’s Federal Government announcement could now include wage relief of $1,500 a fortnight per employee. But he said he would help those in distress, depending on their size and length of time trading.
“I’ve got some tenants that have only started you know, a beauty salon for 12 months,” Mr Van Lieshout said.
“Some of those people I’m going to be very kind to because I know that they cannot possibly [pay] because the Government’s closed it down completely. “But the burden of this should be also accepted by the tenants themselves that have run successful businesses for many years.” Arif Memis, owner of Cowch Dessert Cocktail Bar in South Brisbane, was told by Mr Van Lieshout’s company that rent was due despite his trade being “decimated” by the ban on restaurant dining.
“I don’t understand what planet he lives on,” Mr Memis said. Mr Van Lieshout, the former owner of Super Amart, was ranked this year by The Australian as the 35th richest person in the country with a $2.4 billion fortune.
The 74-year-old told the ABC he believed businessowners had a “moral obligation” to reach into their own pockets first before turning to landlords given that “a lot of these tenants — I know for a fact — are wealthy people”. Mr Van Lieshout said he knew it was a tough argument to make amid perceptions that “landlords are all bastards, they’re terrible people, they are capitalists and they should pay”.
“But the thing is, take a tenant that has a good business that’s been in business for 10 or 15 years, say he has a holiday home, he drives a nice Mercedes, and he has money in the bank,” he said.
“This [the coronavirus pandemic] happens suddenly — I think he has a moral obligation first to use some of his own capital. “He might be paying $100,000-a-year rent and for three months, a quarter, he has to dip in his pocket for $25,000 of his own money instead of coming to me and saying, ‘How about you put up this money for me?’
“Why is it that people look at landlords and say, ‘Well landlords, you cop it’. If these people sack their staff and don’t pay any rent, they’re almost off scot-free.” (Source: ABC News – Australia)
