Call to quickly resolve rents issue

A QUICK resolution by Government on the issue of upward-only rent reviews is vital for the retention of jobs and renewed movement in the commercial property market, it was claimed yesterday.

Retail industry representative body, Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) said that thousands of retail jobs are at risk until the Government fully enacts the proposals. The organisation has estimated, in addition to the 40,000 retail-related jobs that have already been lost since 2008, a further 40,000 positions are currently under threat.

“While it’s encouraging to see that the Government is making progress on this vital piece of reforming legislation, there’s no time to waste as thousands more retail jobs will be lost if the bill is not fully enacted during the autumn,” according to REI chief executive David Fitzsimons.

Meanwhile, property agent Savills has forecast total property sales volumes, across leading European markets, will be up by over 2% this year. It includes such countries as France, Germany, Norway and Ireland. It said, yesterday, that market turnover in Ireland reached €270m last year, but growth this year is dependent on outside forces.

“Activity in 2011 has been hampered by a continued lack of funding and fragile confidence.

“The market has been affected particularly by signals from the new Government that they may retrospectively amend upward only rent review provisions in existing commercial leases,” noted Fergus O’Farrell, director of investments at Savills Ireland.