To promote the construction of new energy efficient and affordable rental apartment buildings, on Thursday, 5 February, the Saeima adopted a new Law on Construction Rights for Residential Rental Buildings.

The law establishes a special legal framework for construction rights, enabling state or municipality-owned land to be used for construction of rental apartment buildings intended for renting to residents, including as a type of social assistance. Until now, construction rights could only be applied to non-residential buildings or engineering structures to avoid new cases of shared property ownership.

The period of construction rights may not exceed 70 years. As long as the construction right remains in force, the buildings may not be divided into apartment properties or sold in parts.

The new law was proposed to promote the availability of rental apartments, attract private housing developers, and ensure a more effective use of state and municipality-owned land. Municipalities will also be able to rent the apartments out to low-income residents. According to the authors of the draft law—the Saeima Public Administration and Local Government Committee—this will help reduce regional housing shortage while promoting economic growth.

Like other EU states, Latvia is facing a shortage of affordable housing, and the European Commission is currently developing a plan to improve the affordability of housing, which includes promoting the use of buildable land and the development of social housing. The new law will create a support mechanism that will provide residents with access to quality housing for a reasonable rental fee, the authors of the draft law noted.

Saeima Press Service