A moratorium against increases in commercial leases. To ask for it is Confimprese, the association of modern commerce, worried about the increase in inflation. “We need a government intervention that provides for a moratorium on the Istat increase for the rental of commercial properties, without however excluding the need to review the existing contractual models should the crisis continue in the medium-long term” says Mario Resca, President of Confimprese. The increase in rents would weigh even more on the retail income statement together with the other cost items, starting with electricity and gas, transport, raw materials and personnel, while sales are suffering. The weight of rent on turnover has so far grown to 22.2% from 18% in the pre-Covid years for a clothing store, while for a restaurant it has gone from 12 to 12.6%. “If we want to avoid the closure of shops and the downsizing of employment, the Government must immediately intervene on the example of what has been done with the Decree-Law 95 of 2012 for the public administration, for which the Istat update of rents has been frozen for ten years »continues Resca. As for tomorrow, the president predicts that in the coming months retail revenues will drop while for rents “double-digit increases, over 10%, are expected, putting businesses in crisis”.
Abroad, the problem has already been addressed. In France, an attempt is being made to contain price increases with specific measures for retail activities and families and on August 16 a maximum ceiling of 3.5% was introduced for the increase in rents. In Germany, discussions are underway on the measures to be taken while in Spain, in the face of inflation that has exceeded 10%, a maximum indexation ceiling of 2% has been introduced, applicable until the end of the year to rental contracts for residential properties. According to Confimprese, a general principle of renegotiation of the contract should be made mandatory if unforeseeable and uncontrollable events occur that are not attributable to the parties that alter the agreed conditions. At the moment in Italy one could follow the path of excessive burdens occurring which leads, in the case of unavailability of the other party to a fair review, between the continuation of the relationship under the same conditions or the termination of the contract.
Even Aires, in the name of the specialized groups of household appliances and consumer electronics, in view of the issue of the next support decree, asks that “the government takes into account that energy costs weigh on these companies, eroding physiologically low margins” reports Andrea Scozzoli, president of Aires . For some companies, the margin is around 2% of sales. Hence the request that the Government wants to take into consideration the fact that regardless of the amount of energy that is used in carrying out the business activity, it is also important to consider the incidence of these new costs on the income statement.