RIGA, Feb 26 (LETA) - The Riga City Council on Thursday approved the termination of indefinite lease agreements for municipal housing and will instead offer tenants five-year leases.

The new rules define the procedure and conditions for concluding lease agreements for premises that the municipality can sell. They also set the lease periods for municipal property.

The rules apply to dwellings that were rented out before the privatization of residential housing began on July 25, 1995. Approximately 3,500 dwellings have been rented out in this way and, under the Law on the Alienation of the Property of a Public Entity, the tenants can purchase them.

Until now, tenants were given lease agreements of unlimited duration.

The new regulations also prohibit subletting municipal dwellings.

They also impose various obligations on tenants, such as keeping the premises in good order, carrying out routine repairs at the tenant's own expense, installing meters, buying third party liability insurance, etc.

The planned duration of the new lease agreements will be five years. Tenants in rent arrears for more than two months will be given six-month lease agreements, while tenants caught carrying out unauthorized construction will be given one-year agreements.

As LETA reported, a new regulation for renting municipal apartments has been drafted in Riga, which stipulates that starting from July next year, the municipality will start charging rent from tenants, which has not been done so far.