RIGA, Nov 24 (LETA) - A new regulation for renting municipal apartments has been drafted in Riga, which envisages that from May next year the municipality will start charging rent from tenants, which has not been done so far.

As LETA was told at the press office of Riga City Council, the local government has drafted new binding regulations that will regulate the renting of municipal apartments.

According to the explanatory note to the draft regulations, the average rent, depending on the universal cadastral value of the apartment property and its area, is planned to be between EUR 15 and EUR 85 per month.

According to the local government, until now no rent has been charged for the use of municipally-owned apartments. Elina Treija (National Alliance), head of the Housing and Environment Committee of Riga City Council, explained that this situation had developed historically, rent had not been collected and councilors had lacked "the courage to resolve it".

By not collecting rent, the municipality does not get the money to renovate the apartments it owns, and they are gradually falling into disrepair, Treija said. "This has been a major financial burden for the municipality, and often an unjustified one," she said.

Moreover, while some tenants were initially assessed for low-income status in order to be exempted from rent, this was not reassessed when the leases were renewed. Unlike other municipalities, the Riga municipality has not deprived persons who have lost their low-income status of their assigned housing and will not do so in the future, the councilor said.

The draft regulation provides that tenants of social housing will not be charged rent, and a 50 percent discount will be applied to their heating bills. Under the planned rent system, social housing tenants will pay a management fee, and this approach will not create an additional payment burden for these tenants.

Meanwhile, for the use of other apartments owned by the municipality, rent of 2.5 percent of the universal cadastral value of the property per year will be charged from May 2026.

The municipality owns 6,300 apartments that are rented out under a housing support scheme, as well as 3,500 apartments whose tenants have had the opportunity to buy them out because they had not historically been rented out under housing support.

Low-income persons renting a municipal apartment under the support scheme will receive a 30 percent reduction in rent, while families with minor children, a disabled child or a person with a disability since childhood will receive a 50 percent reduction in rent. Treija stressed that the maximum rent reductions will apply specifically to families with minor children.

Treija acknowledged that some tenants might find the new rent too high, but they would be able to apply to the Welfare Department for housing benefit.

However, given that the municipality has not reassessed how many tenants qualify for low-income status, it is currently difficult to estimate how many such people there might be.

It is assumed that this could be at most 10 percent to 15 percent of the tenants in municipal housing who could claim support. The municipality will therefore earmark funds to provide such support.

It is planned that the new binding rules will enter into force in May 2026, after the end of the heating season.

It is planned to earmark the rental income for investments in the maintenance of the municipality's housing stock, including payments attributable to municipal apartments for repairs planned in future periods, as well as for a new support instrument to address the affordability of housing for families with children.

The draft of the binding regulations has been submitted for public consultation, and people have until December 8 to express their opinions.