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  • Rent: Controversy over the lack of a moratorium on the Government's shock plan

The rent and the lack of concrete measures towards the tenants in the economic shock plan against the coronavirus presented on Tuesday by the Government continues to generate tension between the vice president of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño , and the ministers of United Podemos. Calviño was opposed to including a moratorium on rental income as part of the measures to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on citizens, a request that representatives of the purple formation put on the table and which they continue to insist on. with a view to expanding the action package.

The Minister of Economic Affairs argues that a moratorium on the payment of rents, as has been done with mortgages for vulnerable sectors, would harm many citizens who have some rented housing. "We have prioritized the maintenance of income. We have focused a lot on how workers, self-employed workers and companies can continue to function and continue to deal with the payments they have to make," added the minister in an interview in Espejo Público, where she also indicated that for many citizens having a rented apartment is an income.

In this sense, Calviño has explained that the payment of the rent is different from that of the mortgages, because here "you do not have on the other side a bank" , but a citizen who may have rented their home and who, therefore, would be affected by a payment moratorium.

Despite this, the Executive's economic manager has not ruled out that such a measure could be considered in the coming weeks, since the Government is "absolutely open" to listen to the proposals of the social agents and political groups to confront the health crisis and its economic and social impact, as stated in the Antena 3 program, Espejo Público.

The friction is evident, despite the fact that the ministers of United Podemos have not spoken openly. From the party they assure that more measures are needed than were approved and they hope that their housing claims will be taken into account in the successive meetings.

Expressly, the spokesman for Podemos, Rafal Mayoral , has assured RNE that he has "no doubt" that "the question of rents will have to come up sooner or later."

Last Tuesday, the President of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, entrusted himself to a "chain of solidarity" between landlords and tenants, which leads them directly to study among themselves and at a particular level, the ways to overcome the economic difficulties that the pandemic may cause them.

Individual agreements and renegotiations

As confirmed by industry sources and real estate agencies to EL MUNDO , such agreements and renegotiations are already taking place between individuals. In recent days, in fact, queries and requests have increased in this regard, something that is expected to increase given that 95% of the residential park in Spain is in the hands of private owners.

But also the large holders are already implementing measures of this type on their own initiative. This is the case of Lazora , one of the largest residential rental companies in Spain, which this Thursday has made the decision to establish a moratorium on the payment of rent for those families whose situation is deteriorated as a result of the impact on their economy of Covid- 19.

Half of the houses managed by the firm are protected and the other half are on the free market. The program consists of applying special conditions of deferment of the payment of the rents during the period of state of alarm and the later fractionation, during a year, of the unpaid rents. The criteria for accessing this program are based on those established by the Government for the moratorium on mortgage payments.

The company has communicated the measure to its 7,000 customers across the country by means of a letter sent today in which it also informs them of the extraordinary measures it has adopted in the field of health security in all the buildings it manages.

The Madrid City Council has also launched a similar measure. The City Council will not collect rent receipts from the tenants of the Madrid Municipal Housing and Land Enterprise (EMVS), nor will they order evictions during the coronavirus crisis.

"There will be no EMVS launches and receipts will not be issued because the last thing this City Council wants to do is take away anyone's house," said the Deputy Mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís , at the press conference held after the Board of Government, where they have taken these measures.

The moratoriums not only remain in the residential area, but also from the business sector, strategies are being adopted in this regard. Euroinversiones , the Valencian company that owns real estate for its lease and the Barriobar franchise, has also announced that it will not charge the rent of the premises to its tenants and franchisees for the duration of the state of alarm decreed by the Government of Spain.

Euroinversiones has, among tenants of hospitality establishments and franchisees under the BarrioBar banner, about a hundred establishments in the city of Valencia and other municipalities in the province.

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  • Nadia Calviño
  • United We Can
  • living place
  • Rental
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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