Government Council BS President of the Basel cantonal government announces relaxation of housing protection regulations

In the canton of Basel-Stadt, property owners will be able to increase rents more than before following renovation work. The new President of the Cantonal Government, Conradin Cramer, wants to relax the housing protection provisions that came into force at the end of May 2022 at ordinance level.

Specifically, the government wants to "moderately" increase the pass-on rate applied by the Housing Protection Commission over the course of the coming year. Conradin Cramer (LDP), President of the Basel government, announced this on Thursday at a media conference to mark his first 100 days in office. Following renovation, the rent should be able to rise "somewhat more" than before, but less than provided for in federal law, said Cramer.

Cramer described housing protection as a "pressing issue". We are in a muddled situation in which nobody is happy, he said. "The situation is perceived as unsatisfactory."

According to an initial analysis commissioned by the government, the new provisions of the Housing Protection Act will reduce rent increases. According to Cramer, there are fewer total renovations and therefore fewer vacancies.

However, Cramer also noted a number of side effects. For example, there are fewer refurbishments, even if the decline cannot be measured in reliable figures. It also remains to be seen to what extent the decline is specifically related to housing protection and to what extent other factors such as the general rise in construction costs play a role.

Cramer sees conflict with climate targets

"However, a majority of those surveyed assume that energy-efficient renovations will decrease," said Cramer. This is bad news, as the canton wants to be climate-neutral by 2037. "We have a conflict of objectives here between housing protection regulations and climate targets."

The former Director of Education and President of the Cantonal Government since May emphasized "in all clarity": "Housing protection applies. The people of Basel have made it clear in several votes that they want strong housing protection." And climate protection also applies.

In June, the Basel-Stadt Grand Council referred four of five motions on relaxing housing protection to the government for the second time by 51 votes to 42 and 43 respectively. Specifically, the motions concerned exemptions for rented condominiums, an exemption from the Housing Protection Act for energy-efficient renovations, a depoliticization of the Housing Protection Commission and a permit-free renovation of apartments with a rent increase of up to ten percent.

As a first step, the government now wants to tackle "certain things" at ordinance level, which is within its remit, said Cramer. In addition to increasing the pass-on rate, the enforcement of the provisions should also be simplified.

Tenants' association wants to go all the way to the federal court

The list of issues drawn up by "BSS Volkswirtschaftliche Beratung" is based, among other things, on 30 rulings by the Housing Protection Commission and 15 discussions with a total of 25 experts - for example investors such as UBS and Bâloise, administrative bodies, a tenancy lawyer from the Swiss Tenants' Association, the Wohngenossenschaft Wohnstadt housing cooperative, the Homeowners' Association and the Basel Trade Association. According to Cramer, the Basel Tenants' Association (MV Basel) did not want to take part.

In a press release, the MV Basel described the questions posed in the draft proposal as "one-sided". Cramer wanted to give investors "excessive returns again by stealth". This would be at the expense of all tenants and would weaken or even eliminate the effect of the Housing Protection Act, according to the statement. The Federal Court will have to decide on the planned "unlawful new Cramer Ordinance", writes MV Basel.

The revised Housing Promotion Act and the associated ordinances came into force on May 28, 2022. This followed the adoption of the popular initiative "Yes to real housing protection" in November 2021. The aim of the tenants' association's initiative was to improve the protection of the resident population against terminations and rent increases.

Since then, building owners have had to submit an application to the Housing Protection Commission for refurbishments, renovations and conversions. This determines the maximum rent increases. The same applies to net rents in replacement new builds following demolitions.