To ask the Minister of Finance what mechanisms are in place to ensure that businesses that pay their rates via their landlord have access to grant support available as a result of COVID-19 public health restrictions.

As you are aware, Land & Property Services (LPS) administered the Small Business Grant Support Scheme and has just commenced administration of the Localised Restrictions Support Scheme.

LPS has put in place mechanisms to ensure that grants are paid to the intended recipient, the occupier of the premises.

For the Small Business Grant Support Scheme, a dedicated portal was developed for use by occupiers of premises with a Net Annual Value for which liability for the rates rested under legislation with the landlord. The occupier was able to use this portal to make an application and provide proof of occupation.

For all other non-domestic accounts, where the occupier was liable for rates, but was set up in the name of the landlord, LPS manually checked each application to determine if it was the occupier who made the application for a grant, did investigations to determine the business operating from the property or asked for proof of occupation before paying a grant.

It is recognised that at the beginning of this scheme when grants were automatically issued to those who paid their rates through direct debit, a small number of owners instead of occupiers were paid. However, when the occupier made an application for a grant these were paid once the necessary investigations were done and proof of occupation supplied. LPS is currently working to recoup all grants paid in error to property owners.

I must point out that under the terms of the Small Business Support Grant Scheme, businesses which rented a space within a property, did not occupy a property which is a distinct property (hereditament) on the Valuation List and are not in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief did not qualify for a grant.

Under the terms of the Localised Restrictions Support Scheme, all business which have been required to close, or have had business activities at their premises directly curtailed by the Covid-19 health protection restrictions that have been put in place, are eligible for grant support. This includes those business which rent space in a property.

LPS has designed a portal for applications to this new Scheme which is hosted on the nibusinessinfo website. The information given about the Scheme explains eligibility and clearly states that landlords and managing agents must not complete the application on behalf of a tenant business which occupies their property.

LPS will scrutinise and investigate the information on each application to ensure it is the occupier of the premises who receives the grant. The nature of the business affected by the restrictions means LPS can cross reference with District Council information on Food Hygiene Certificates and operating licenses.