According to data from the Icelandic Tenants Association, Iceland’s real estate and rental prices have risen disproportionately over the last decade compared to other European countries, Frétta blaðið reports.
Guðmundur Hrafn Arngrimsson, Chairman of the Tenants Association, compared changes in Iceland’s rent market over the past decade with figures from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency for real estate and rental price trends in Europe.
“For example, between 2011 and 2021, Iceland’s rent increased by 104%, while continental rent increased by only 15%,” says Guðmundur.
“This actually gives us a reason to believe that there was a very unfair price formation in the rental market. Reykjavik tenants actually live in one of the worst situations in Europe.” And Guðmundur add.
Guðmundur believes that there are all reasons to modify the rental price. “It happens by curbing all rises and setting a framework for price formation in the rental market with certain rent caps.” The trade union movement has been unsigned for seven months with such rents. Is requesting an upper limit.
“In the 2019 Living Wage Agreement, the trade union movement enforced promises from the government and its counterparts on price controls in the rental market. The then Minister of Social Affairs, Ásmundur Einar Daðason, took a rental break in February 2020. We have submitted a bill on the subject, but the bill has been withdrawn, “says Guðmundur.
An agreement between the union and the state fulfilled this promise. “The bill has been reintroduced, but price controls have been withdrawn,” says Gusmundur, who calls on the government to keep its promises and respect the rent law’s provisions for fair and equitable rent.
“The situation in the rental market is homemade and the responsibility of the government. Therefore, people living in situations that are stuck in the rental market and struggling with an increasingly small number of real estate are protected from the arbitrariness and self-absorption of the landlord. It’s up to them to guarantee that. “
