Madam, – I read with disbelief Bill Nowlan’s call for the Government to refer its proposals to ban upwards only rent reviews for existing commercial leases to the Law Reform Commission (Commercial Property, March 30th).
The case for acting now is overwhelming. The retail industry is in its 38th consecutive month of decline and sales levels have fallen over 30 per cent. More than 45,000 retail jobs have been lost in this time and over 400 stores are closing each month.
In spite of this, significant numbers of landlords, in particular the large private property companies and institutional investors have either refused to grant rent reductions or are seeking rent increases of over 50 per cent. Dundrum Town Centre is a case in point where increases of 80 per cent were sought last year.
Rents increased by 240 per cent between 2000 and 2007, making them now more than double those of other jurisdictions. As a direct result, retail businesses are failing and significant numbers of job are being lost. Landlords have had the past three years to resolve the matter with their tenants and in most cases have failed to do so.
The current Government has a clear mandate to bring the Irish commercial property market in line with almost every other European state in respect of commercial rent reviews. It is now time for legislative intervention. – Yours, etc,