GWU welcomes Rent Law White Paper

At a glance, the White Paper on the Rent Law reform contains positive aspects that were long overdue, the General Workers' Union said.

The reform would help to ease the burden carried by many couples, especially young ones when they enter into huge debts to buy property and start a family, the union said.

The GWU noted that the Rent Law was introduced in 1944 with the aim of regulating the highest rent that could be charged to tenants. That law had helped to protect a number of workers' families for many years.

In view of modern trends, one could not ignore the fact that the standard of living had improved over the years and this enabled many workers to invest in a house.

However, the union said, although many of the recommendations for reform in the Rent Law helped to foster more social justice, the government should retain those mechanisms which, until now, served to protect families whose social standing did not permit them to pay high rents. This should be done in the light of the recommendation to revise the law every three years in line with the inflation rate.