The Danish government’s decision to put a cap on rent for the next two years will send an “unnecessary bill” to pension savers, Forsikring & Pension (F&P) has warned.

In a statement, F&P said that it was “upset” that Danish pension savers will end up paying the renters’ bill for rising inflation.

It noted that one million pension savers were affected by the agreement, which could have been avoided through targeted help for the hardest hit tenants, according to F&P.

The organisation added that pension savers and investors had invested part of their savings into properties, and will now have to bear an additional burden because the government adopted the rent cap.

“We have great sympathy for the desire to help the citizens who are hardest hit by inflation,” commented F&P managing director, Kent Damsgaard.

“But the rent ceiling is not targeted at all. In practice, the intervention will mean that unskilled workers, nursing assistants and nurses will be allowed to foot the bill for tenants, who may be far more wealthy, through their pensions.

“As an industry, we would very much have liked to contribute to a solution that helped those most in need, without sending the bill to the pension savers.

“We have also made very specific proposals on how it could be solved with targeted housing support. But the law has been rushed through in a way that I hope we will never experience again, if the government and the parliament have an ambition for more thorough and better legislation.”

He also emphasised that the real estate sector needed calm and broad political agreements in the pension companies are to also invest Danes’ savings in building and renovating homes in the future.

“There seems to be broad agreement in the Folketing that more housing is needed - both in and outside the big cities,” Damsgaard said.

“The most important thing politicians can do to ensure this is to create a proper and predictable framework for the pension companies to properly invest Danes' savings in housing. It requires broad settlements on the housing area – and a total stop to emergency interventions of this kind.”

Share Story: