The Philippine economy is faced with the COVID-19 crisis, to which the real estate market is not immune. Both tenants and landlords are enduring new challenges and opportunities in the industry. Mutual business understanding from both sides and critical preparation in the early stages of post-quarantine are very important to sustain real estate businesses. For property owners, there are several ways in which assistance can be given to your lessees while ensuring sustainability in your business. How can landlords support their tenants amid COVID-19?

Granting office rental concessions

One among several pains that tenants are encountering is the challenge to sustain timely rental payments. Generally, tenants are now focused on business sustenance amid slowdown, and then recovering after surviving. Due to this, we do recommend landlords to allow certain rental concessions on a case-to-case basis to make it easier for tenants to keep their businesses afloat. An example is to delay collection of rentals of the ECQ period to the last portion of the lease term and lay out the amount among the last three to six months. This will help tenants to recover upon resumption of a “new normal” business operations. On the other hand, landlords have to make sure that these concessions are still manageable on the aspect of self-sustenance: avoid offering more than what you can actually give. The right balance will determine the survival of your business in the next few months. In other words, continuous communication is therefore encouraged between landlords and respective tenants in order to create an avenue for discussions about fair concessions between parties. 

Implementing health safety protocols in office buildings 

Moreover, even if tenants intend to resume operations in their offices, the virus scare continues to serve as a security and safety threat for tenants. 

Landlords are encouraged to make the new normal more conducive with their tenants in mind. They may come up with certain adjustments including upgrading on various equipment, such as sanitation stations, temperature checkers, and hands-free systems for entry points and elevator access.

Concurrently, members of the property managements’ (PM) frontliners, typically composed of security personnel, receptionists, and janitors, are also exposed, if not more, to the same risks that the tenants are being exposed to. Landlords have to make sure that their PM team is also well equipped with necessary protocols in order to keep it safe from harm. An opportunity is present for property technology focusing on allowing remote work for property related activities, such as property management applications and utilization of Augmented Reality for site inspections.

Preparing for real estate’s “new normal”

Finally, planning ahead is crucial to the success of reopening your business and getting things back on track towards the new normal. Adapting to the changes and challenges affecting all aspects of operating a commercial development is vital for property owners to stay ahead of the game. Having a reliable partner to guide you every step of the way is paramount to your smooth restart and transition to the new normal of doing business. 

We can provide you the necessary tools and expertise in order to do this. Our Business Resumption Advisory Service is mainly designed to assist landlords in addressing pressing operational concerns post-lockdown with professional advice and recommendations based on market trends and industry best practices in line with government-mandated guidelines in the time of COVID-19.

Contact our business development team for further assistance.

Cholo Florencio - (+63) 917 893 3939 / (+632) 7219 5932

Mervyn Valenzuela - (+63) 917 626 5316 / (+632) 7796 0102