The owners of the largest shopping centers lost 50% of their proceeds, according to a letter from the initiative group of the Russian Council of Shopping Centers (RSTC) to the Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko and Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, which was at the disposal of RIA Real Estate.
MOSCOW, May 14 - RIA Real Estate. Earlier, the business ombudsman Boris Titov proposed to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to include shopping and entertainment centers in the lists of backbone organizations and to extend to them the support measures provided for organizations in the affected industries. As such, Titov proposed to provide for a half-year moratorium for the shopping and entertainment center on collection of payments for loans, as well as provide a six-month vacation to pay taxes on land, property, and rent payments for state and municipal property.
“Currently, retail chains carry out trade for the issuance of orders through retail outlets, as well as carry out sales via the Internet. A significant part of retail operators have lost at least 50% of their revenue, "the appeal says.
In May, the Russian government submitted to the State Duma a bill on new measures to support business in connection with the spread of the coronavirus.
The project, in particular, proposes to grant the right to tenants, whose incomes have dropped by more than 50% since the introduction of quarantine measures, to unilaterally terminate the lease agreement without charging them any fees and fines.
The owners of commercial real estate, who warned the deputies about a possible collapse in the industry, strongly oppose this novelty. The State Duma adopted the bill in the first reading, noting the need for its revision. The second reading of the document was scheduled for May 13, but was then postponed for a week.
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The letter adds that the minimum discounts on rent in many shopping centers during the pandemic reach 90% of the usual payment. In addition to the benefits provided, landlords are considering, and some are actively introducing insurance programs for tenants to gradually return to previous indicators after starting a business. Thus, the property owners are already working to create conditions for a satisfactory existence of the tenant business.
“This is more than a fair distribution of the burden of losses for both parties, an agreement on which is reached without government intervention,” the letter says.
According to the initiative group of the RSTC, measures of state regulation and state support should be aimed at stimulating the economy and restoring its affected industries, and not at terminating the contractual relations of participants in civil turnover. Market participants consider the provisions of the mentioned draft law to be inconsistent with the current legislation of the Russian Federation.
In addition, shopping center owners fear that the amendment requires the landlord to return a large number of deposit payments at the same time in a situation of almost complete absence of receipts.
And this happens despite the fact that such payments were also used to bring the premises in line with the requirements of the tenants at the time of the conclusion of the contracts. The amendment to the legislation also creates the basis for manipulative negotiations and risks of default on loan agreements for the lessor, non-payment of wages, as well as non-payment of established taxes and fees, the letter says.
The initiative group of those who sent the letter included: General Director of JSC "Corporation A. N. D." Sait-Salam Gutseriev, First Vice President of Crocus JSC Emin Agalarov, President of PIK Group of Companies Sergey Gordeev, President of Tashir Group of Companies Samvel Karapetyan, General Director of JSC TVK Aviapark Mikhail Sverdlov, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of PPF Real Estate Russia Martin Schaffer and Ernest Rudyak, President of Engeocom KRK.