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- The National Council voted 91:89 with four abstentions on the proposal to protect commercial tenants.
- SVP and FDP were against the bill, the left parties in favor. The CVP was divided.
- The matter now returns to the National Council Commission, which has to discuss the proposal in detail.
Tens of thousands of stores, businesses and restaurants had to close in the spring in the first Corona wave. Suddenly they could no longer earn anything, but they still had to pay the rent for their business premises. Parliament wanted to help them out in the summer, with a partial lease at the owner’s expense.
Staff: only 40 percent paid by the tenant
Today, the National Council has debated it and very strictly advocated such a corporate rental solution with 91 votes to 89 and four abstentions. The tip of the balance was played by the divided middle faction. The proposal stipulates that tenants, like collectors, only have to pay 40 percent of the rent during the period of the first lockdown. The rest would be borne by the lessor.
The solution is urgent, said SP National Councilor Ursula Schneider Schüttel, right now, in the second wave: now merchants like barbers or hairdressers need a little security.
But the majority of the responsible legal commission does not want to know anything about it. A waiver of lease at the expense of landlords contradicts several basic rights of the federal constitution, such as the guarantee of property or economic freedom, emphasized the national councilor of the CVP, Philipp Matthias Bregy: “With this proposal, the constitution is not only scratched significantly, but simply violated. “
With this proposal, the constitution is not only significantly scratched, it is simply violated.
By the way, many tenants have already settled on their own, according to Bregy. Furthermore, individual cantons have also found solutions.
Only federal monitoring shows that this has not been successful in many cases, replied SP National Counsel Baptiste Hurni. And anyway: What kind of signal would that be if politicians didn’t do anything else right now than tell those affected that they have to help themselves and make arrangements?
200 million francs
Ultimately, it is a little more than 200 million francs without which the owners would have to do without, calculates the Federal Council. That’s 1.6 percent of total business rental income in one year. Proponents of the solution argue that it is insignificant.
Opponents, however, recalled that owners also have costs. Pirmin Schwander, Senior Vice President National Councilor: “Owners can’t pay their suppliers either. That sets off a chain reaction. We as Parliament cannot get into that. “
