Lodz rents out municipal premises for 1 PLN to support local business

Catering establishments and gym business owners can pay just 0.2 euro per month

As gyms and restaurants in Poland are suffering another month of reduced or entirely discontinued activity, the uncertainty about their survival is growing. In this situation, the Polish city of Lodz decided to land them a hand with rent relief.

As the city has done in the previous waves of the coronavirus pandemic, it once again extended its opportunity towards gym and restaurant owners renting municipal premises, by reducing the amount they have to pay to the city to just 1 polish zloty per month (the equivalent of 22 euro cents).

Lodz is demonstrating a commitment to save the economy

Last year in April and May all tenants of business premises owned by Lodz were given the opportunity to pay only the symbolic amount. In November, the reduction was also offered to those who run restaurants, bars, fitness clubs and gyms. In December, the rent relief was also extended to entrepreneurs operating cinemas.

Now, in the absence of government measures that make the economic activity of gyms possible and restaurants having been reduced to takeaway status only, the Mayor of the third-largest Polish city, Hanna Zdanowska, has decided that entrepreneurs operating in the fitness and in gastronomy sectors will be able to pay one zloty of rent for the entire month of March.

To benefit from the relief, business owners must submit a request to the city authorities by filling in an application form and sending it until 26 March. The only condition is that that the tenant has no arrears with the city (e.g. in the current payments for rent, utilities or real estate tax).

Meanwhile, Poland boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the EU for the month of January – of 3.1%. The national government also claims to have paid out over PLN 195 billion to companies and employees, thereby saving nearly 7 million jobs.