The Irish Government has signalled its intention to bring draft legislation before parliament in the current session amending upwards only rent reviews in pre-March 2010 leases. The continued delay in publishing the long-flagged legislation and the uncertainty as to its scope has brought the Irish commercial property market to a near standstill.

At the time of going to press, no firm date for publication has been announced, although it had been hoped that it would be issued by the end of November. Speculation from a number of informed sources points to the Bill being narrower in reach than initially stated with tenants having to satisfy a number of criteria, including demonstration of the detrimental effect of rent on the overall business, before being able to challenge their existing rents, rather than a blanket ban and recalibration of rents across all commercial leases. There are suggestions that the legislation will initially be for a five year period only.

We will update you as soon as the draft Bill is published.