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    Tuesday 27 January 2009

    Commercial rents must be realistic

    Labour's Cllr Keith Martin is calling on landlords and developers to be "realistic" in relation to the level of rents being charged on commercial properties in light of the recession.

    Cllr Martin says that Mayo's Landlords are going "to have to be realistic when charging rents as businesses feel the pinch.  Wages are being frozen and even cut in some cases, profits are down and landlords should be prepared to renegotiate rents rather than see these businesses close.  I would suggest that businesses renting properties renegotiate their rents with their landlords and that rents should be reassessed every six months or so until things get better.  

    "Many landlords and developers who have mortgages on the properties they rent should pass on the decrease in mortgage rates on to their tenants and should make every effort to lower the rent they charge, less rent is better than no rent!

    "Already we are seeing properties lying idle as demand collapses for properties.  Even sadder is the number of businesses which have closed their doors already.  We need everyone to be realistic, we have seen councils like Westport's freeze Commercial Rates, now we need to see landlords and developers freeze and reduce commercial rents.  Things will get better but we need to work together.  We need to keep businesses open and we need to keep people in jobs."

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