Athens confronts its empty apartments

Greece is taking caller steps to code its acute lodging problem, which has near galore families struggling to find affordable homes, peculiarly successful Athens and different municipality centers.

The Association of Realtors of Athens and Attica estimates astir 5,000 apartments successful the superior stay closed, belonging to bequests managed by foundations. Their information is unknown, adjacent to the administrators of the properties. The Finance Ministry has relaunched efforts to catalogue institutions, their assets and unclaimed inheritances, suspecting that valuable properties whitethorn beryllium hidden among the 450,000 inheritance renunciations recorded betwixt 2013 and 2018.

Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said 2,000 inactive institutions and 7,000 unclaimed inheritances person already been identified. “First of all, we request to measurement what we have,” helium noted, adding that overmuch of this wealth remains unrecorded. The government’s program calls for a cardinal supervisory assemblage to negociate instauration assets under a single authority.

Some institutions clasp vast but underused spot portfolios. The Asylum for the Incurable, for example, controls astir 1,000 assets from bequests, but galore person remained shuttered for years. Rental income dropped from €3.57 cardinal successful 2012 to little than €1 cardinal successful 2021. Authorities are investigating absorption practices, including allegations of below-value income and leases astatine token amounts.

Meanwhile, the authorities is besides pushing tax incentives to bring closed properties to market. Under caller legislation, owners renting retired vacant properties will beryllium exempt from income tax connected rents for three years. Exemptions will use adjacent if tenants interruption contracts early, provided a caller tenant is recovered within three months.

Special provisions besides let shorter rental contracts for specific nationalist servants such arsenic teachers and doctors without losing tax benefits. For families with much than two children, tax alleviation will use to progressively larger properties, starting astatine 140 square meters for three children.

In addition, the authorities has extended the gradual abolition of the ENFIA spot tax to Nea Vyssa successful Evros, a borderline town of 1,700 residents, and plans to motorboat an online tool this week to amusement taxpayers their gains under the caller tax brackets.