14 February 2008, 15:42
Volodymyr Yatsuba, Chairman of the Construction and Architecture Sub-Committee, reported on the essentials of the Bill (Regna. 1100) remitted by the People´s Deputy, V. Pysarenko. The Bill aims to create more favourable qualifications for housing credits to be given to Ukrainian citizens.
The Bill proposes:
- Granting credits towards the refurbishment of housing, which is not provided by the current Law;
- Granting credits for a 30-year term or less, as defined by the lender;
- The calculation of the credits towards purchasing, construction or refurbishing housing, based on the standard rate, i.e. 21 sq. m per each family member plus 20 sq m per family; calculation of the housing construction/refurbishment costs based on the current prices as of the date of conclusion of the Credit Agreement; and calculation of insurance payments during housing construction/refurbishment without the first lender´s payment being taken into account.
Also envisaged following these amendments is the crediting of expenses connected with the preparation and registration of Purchase or Construction/ Refurbishment Contracts and related expenses. Credits towards setting up a basic household in new housing will be granted to the amount of 5% of the cost of the purchased or constructed /refurbished housing. The authorised body/organisation shall be obliged to take a decision on the granting of such credits within one month of submission of the required documents by the applicant, with a notification by the said applicant in writing.
Committee Members upheld the concept underlying the Bill, yet formulated a number of criticisms on several provisions. They recommend that the word ‘refurbishment´ be excluded, since the term ‘construction´ in the State Construction Regulations embraces new construction, extension, refurbishment and engineering re-equipment of buildings and structures, together with repairs and improvements to housing and social or communal facilities, and restoration of architectural landmarks.
Committee members also recommend that the provision relating to the 5 percent credit increase towards setting up a household in purchased or constructed /refurbished housing is withdrawn.
The Committee proposed that the index of a 1 sq. m value is used in calculating the amount of credit, which shall be regulated according to the indirect cost of housing construction in different Ukrainian regions, as recommended by the Central Executive Authority in charge of Construction and Architecture.