People may lose subsidised loans for renting out apartments

The people who rent out their new flats may be made to return their loans.

The Belarusian government looks for mechanisms to control the proper use of houses constructed with the help of subsidised loans, Belarusian deputy prime minister Anatoly Kalinin said Wednesday at a press conference in Minsk, Interfax news agency informs.

“We are looking for variants how to encourage people to use their flats for the intended purpose. If one takes a subsidised loan to buy a flat and then rent it out, he must either pay taxes or return the subsidised loan,” Kalinin said.

He noted that when Belarus didn't have an institution of state rental housing, the existing homes rental market, which is now controlled by private commercial organisations, was formed. Kalinin admits that the market is unbalanced and chaotic. He says the government doesn't have tools to control it.

Alyaksandr Horval, the head of the housing police department at the Ministry of Architecture and Construction, said for his part that certain Lukashenka's decrees would amended so that the houses constructed with the help of subsidised loans could not be rented out until the subsidised loan is paid.