“In the debate about rising rental costs, private apartment rents are in the foreground. And it is right and important that the tenants are now relieved,” emphasizes GW federal spokeswoman Sabine Jungwirth. Unfortunately, the ÖVP prevented a solution that would have relieved the small companies. The housing cost subsidy doesn’t help them at all.”
Since the beginning of 2022, inflation adjustments have increased rents for commercial properties by up to 20%.
Small businesses badly affected
“Especially for companies in the central locations, the rental costs are getting out of hand. It’s the small shops and pubs that we all love and appreciate and that bring authenticity and variety to the city centers that make life so difficult for them,” criticizes Jungwirth.
“Right up to the end of the negotiations, we campaigned for a solution that would also relieve the burden on small companies. We call for a suspension or at least a slower adjustment of business rents to the consumer price index. The ÖVP rejected that,” said Jungwirth.
