The Victorian Small Business Commission (VSBC) has translated guidance on commercial rent relief into three extra languages and released them in Simplified Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese.
Acting Small Business Commissioner Mark Schramm said the translations were an important way for the Commission to make its guidance more accessible and inclusive.
“These new translations will help tenants and landlords of diverse backgrounds to grow their understanding of their rights and obligations and if they do find themselves in a dispute, they’ll know they can turn to us for help,” A/g Commissioner Schramm said.
“The help we provide can be a conversation over the phone early on, with the help of a translator and an experienced VSBC team member, to address the matter then and there,” he said.
“When a dispute can’t be resolved like this, we can bring the landlord and tenant together with an impartial mediator and interpreter to guide them in reaching an agreement that they determine – not one that’s handed down that they have to accept.”
A/g Commissioner Schramm said VSBC’s new web pages explained that even though tenants were no longer entitled to rent relief after the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme ended, the Commission would still help those experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19.
He said VSBC was offering information on how to negotiate rent relief fairly now that the Scheme had ended as well as free impartial mediation over rent relief requests which were made before 28 March.
VSBC’s translated guidance can be accessed at this PS News link.
