Ireland’s minister for justice, equality and law reform, Dermot Ahern, is to ban the controversial use of upward-only rent reviews.
Ahern has proposed an amendment to the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill, which is has reached its committee stage, to implement the ban.
It will apply only to new leases signed after the legislation comes into effect, which is expected to be later this month.
The move will be welcomed by retailers and their lobby groups, which have been seeking rent reductions following a drop in consumer spending.
Ahern is understood to have written to leading commercial property figures in May urging them to take a pragmatic approach to rent reviews to help retailers during the recession.
Ahern told The Irish Times: “Under the amendment, upward-only rent reviews will, in effect, be prohibited in all new business leases.
“Any rent review clause in such a lease will provide that the rent can go up, down or remain the same by reference to the rent payable immediately before the review date.”