School canteens, sports clubs, polyclinic pharmacies and most other businesses and organizations whose activities have been restricted as a result of quarantine may be exempted from property rent or receive significant discounts for the latter period. Such a form of support was provided for the tenants of the premises managed by Kaunas City Municipality, which also received the support of the City Council.

At a remote meeting on Tuesday, members of Kaunas City Council approved the decision on the rent for the real estate owned by the municipality or managed by the right of trust.

The Director of Municipal Administration is authorized to decide on the reduction of the amount of the rent or to change the procedure of its payment according to the motivated requests of the tenants related to the ongoing quarantine in the country and its consequences.

Such benefits may apply when tenants are forbidden or severely restricted during quarantine. Also, it the institutions, who manages municipal property, have suspended their activities.

“We see that there might be lots of cases. For example, when schools are suspended due to quarantine, their canteens do not work, and they are leased to private service providers in Kaunas. The situation is similar with pharmacies located in Kaunas polyclinics: health care institutions formally work, but in reality their activities are significantly limited, so the work of tenants becomes significantly restricted, the clients flow decreases significantly”, explained Kaunas Deputy Mayor Andrius Palionis.

According to him, the head of the municipal administration will make individual decisions by assessing each case individually according to clearly defined and objective criteria. Companies that have stopped their activities due to quarantine may be fully exempted from rent for the previous period, and for organizations that were unable to work at full capacity, it will be reduced to 70 percent.

“We all understand that business today faces exceptional challenges. We clearly see the difficulties they are facing and in this case we can make decisions that are in the will of the city. In addition to the issue of renting real estate, City Council also decided to apply a discount to catering establishments by abolishing the fee for outdoor cafes and terraces. The outdoor advertising fee has also been postponed for 3 months”, added Deputy Mayor Andrius Palionis.

It is envisaged that changes in the rent in Kaunas will be valid until the end of quarantine.