Minister of Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna
The Spanish Government has approved the new Housing Plan 2018-2021, which includes aid for tenants and buyers. The effects will be retroactive from January 1st.
According to the Minister of Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna, “it is a plan that tries to satisfy real needs and that is especially focused on young people, the elderly and the most disadvantaged groups, including the suggestions made to us by the Autonomous Communities, City Councils and representatives of the sector “.
Although the plan was presented by Fomento in May of last year, its approval has been delayed for almost a year.
The plan contains different categories of beneficiaries for both rent and purchase and reformation plans: young tenants under 35 and over 65 years of age, evicted families with special conditions, those under 35 years of age interested in buying a home (in rural areas); communities and promoters.
Funding
The Ministry of Development says that the new plan will receive 64% more funding than its predecessor. In total, 1,443 million euros will be allocated to the plan, which will be distributed as follows: 350 million in 2018, 357 million in 2019, 364 million in 2020 and 372 million in 2021.
Aid for Tenants
- People under 35 years of age who earn up to three times IPREM (22,558 euros per year in 14 payments), who do not already own a property in Spain can request a rent subsidy of up to 50% of the monthly rent, to a maximum of 600 euros per month. In cities such as Madrid or Barcelona where rental prices are higher, the upper limit rises to 900 euros per month, but the subsidy is reduced to 30% of the monthly rent for between 601 and 900 euros. The rented property should be the main residence of the tenant for three years.
- Aid for people over 65 years old. Retired tenants can also benefit from government assistance of up to 50% of the monthly rent, provided that: their assets do not exceed 100,000 euros; they do not own a property in Spain; they do not earn more than three times the IPREM.
- Aid for those between 35 and 65 years. For the rest of the tenants, regardless of age, the conditions are the same regarding income, up to three times the IPREM, and that they do not own a house in Spain. However, the subsidy has a limit of 40% of the monthly rent provided it does not exceed 600 euros.
- Aid for evicted families. Those affected by eviction from their habitual residence and eviction from a rental property will also be eligible for grants of up to 400 euros per month, for a period of up to three years. The lease of the property flats may not exceed 400 euros per month, so the subsidy cannot be 100%, depending on the case.
- Aid for families with special characteristics. For large families, the earning limit for aid benefits is four times the IPREM (up to 30,078 euros per year), as well as families with a member with a disability. The limit is five times the IPREM (37,597.95 euros per year) for special large families (four or more children) and those with members with a severe disability.
Purchase aids: only for young people and in rural municipalities
- Aid for the purchase of permanent housing is only available for young people under 35 years of age. It consists of a subsidy of 20%, with a limit of 10,800 euros for the purchase, as long as the buyer does not already own a property.
- However, there are two other general considerations to bear in mind: aid is conditional on the house being located in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants (a measure that is intended to avoid the depopulation of rural areas) and that its price does not exceed 100,000 euros. “This is the only case in which there will be direct aids to the purchase”, stressed de la Serna.
- They must also continue to meet the income requirements of the family unit: three times the IPREM (22,558 euros / annual in 14 payments) which is increased to four times the IPREM (that is, up to 30,078 euros per year), for large families or those with a member with a disability. The limit increases to five times the IPREM (37,597.95 euros per year) for special large families (four or more children) and those with members with a severe disability. According to property portal idealista, only 51,910 homes meet these requirements, which represents 23.6% of the total housing stock currently on sale on their website.
- For Fernando Encinar, head of studies at idealista, “this measure is original, but it is not foreseeable that it has effects beyond the populations of 5,000 inhabitants near the large urban centres. I could even suppose that many young people who now live in large cities may choose to move to the towns where they can request aid, facilitating the repopulation of those towns, not in the areas where the Government wants to act but in those closest to Barcelona, Valencia or Madrid, for example”.
Aid for the renovation of properties
In this case, the beneficiaries are both the owners of single-family homes and the communities of collective housing (flats).
- Aid is available for improving the energy efficiency of the home; the installation of heating systems, refrigeration, production of sanitary hot water or increasing the efficiency of the current system; the establishment of equipment that allows the use of renewable energies; the application of improvements that protect against noise.
- The aid is 12,000 euros for single-family homes (up by 1,000 euros more if the property is listed as an asset of Cultural Interest (BIC)), and 8,000 euros in the case of flats. The limit will also be 8,000 euros per dwelling, or up to 40% of the investment. The disabled, those over 65 years, and those with incomes less than three times the IPREM, will see that limit rise to 75%.
- Among the requirements are that the property was built prior to 1996 (the previous Housing Plan was limited to those built prior to 1981, which means there are five million houses with the possibility to request aid), the property is the habitual home of the owner or tenant and that several documents are presented: a Building Evaluation Report or the corresponding updated ITE, the agreement of the community of owners and the description of the actions to be carried out. In addition, the maximum deadlines for carrying out the works are between 12 and 18 months after the municipal license is granted. For houses, for example, it is one year, while for buildings/communities with more than 40 homes, the limit is one and a half years.
Helps for promoters and public bodies to build or renovate housing
Finally, the new housing plan also includes subsidies for all those who build housing for rent, whether private developers or public agencies. There are two types of aid:
- General aid to build housing for rent. This consists basically of subsidizing up to 300 euros / m² (usable), with a limit of 40% of the investment and up to 31,500 euros per home, provided that the tenant has an income of up to 4.5 times the IPREM and that the maximum rental price be 7 euros per month per m². In the case that the houses are intended for cheaper rentals (for tenants who earn less than three times the IPREM), the aid increases to 350 euros / m² (usable), with a limit of 50% of the investment and up to 36,750 euros for each home, as long as the maximum rental price is 5.5 euros / m² per month. In addition, the houses must be made available for rent for 25 years.
- If the tenants are elderly or disabled. In the case that the homes for rent or to be rehabilitated are intended for the elderly and people with disabilities that do not already own their home, their income does not exceed five times the IPREM and they have assets below 200,000 euros, public aid to the promoters will be: up to 400 euros / m² (usable), with a limit of up to 40% of the investment. In this case, the mandatory period for allocating these houses for rent to these groups goes up to 40 years.
