The Finance Ministry is finalizing measures to ease the burden on property owners too, saying the tax discount will not be the same for all landlords affected by the rent discounts, while offering some details about how the Golden Visa program may resume.
Addressing a teleconference on the property market organized by Prodexpo Real Estate on Tuesday, Deputy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis said the government is not considering increasing the 40 percent rent discount which currently applies to workers and companies hurt by the coronavirus measures.
He also explained that the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) “discount for property owners will not be horizontal – i.e. for everyone. On the contrary, it will concern those hurt and will be proportionate to the degree of each landlord’s losses.”
The ministry also approved the 40 percent reduction on the rent that university students pay in cities away from their family homes, provided they are the dependent children of employees at enterprises harmed by the crisis to the extent they had to stop working.
Skylakakis also said on Tuesday that, if not today, then in the next few days the government will announce that foreign investors will be able to apply for a residence permit, known as a Golden Visa, through proxies too. This means their physical presence at the various agencies of the Migration Policy Ministry will not be necessary. This is one of several measures the government will be introduce in the coming weeks so as to get the economy restarted from early May.
“We intend for all activities, services and operations required to get going so as to make it possible to implement investments in Greece from abroad. To accelerate the course of growth in the coming months, we will seek to lift the bureaucratic obstacles that currently exist in the property market,” said Skylakakis.
The main objective is to attract as many foreign investments as possible, at an even faster pace than before the coronavirus outbreak. “We will also seek out special protocols so as to accept people from abroad wishing to invest in the realty market,” he added.
Source: eKathimerini
