Swiss government wants to step up fight against excessive rents
The Swiss government says it rejects the rent control initiative. However, by means of an indirect counter-proposal, it intends to lay down clear and transparent laws to protect against unfair rent increases. It took this decision on Friday.
In its decision, the government wrote that its proposal would render unnecessary the automatic and regular rent controls called for by the popular initiative. The government regards the popular initiative as “very costly”. Furthermore, it fears that the initiative would result in a decline in investment in housing construction without leading to effective protection against rent abuse.
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With the indirect counter-proposal, the government acknowledged that the current rules on exploitative rents are complex and, at times, opaque. it said the rules laid down in the counter-proposal would, in future, enable tenants and landlords to determine more quickly and easily whether a rent is unfair.
The rent control initiative, submitted on June 23, calls for rents to be reviewed automatically and regularly. Excessively high rents are also to be reduced.
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Signatures for Swiss rent control initiative submitted
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