The “Renovate – Rent” program, which is financed by the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family with the amount of 50 million euros, is proceeding rapidly with strong interest from property owners, as already in the first week, when the platform was opened for those interested, there are 343 approvals, out of a total of 573 entries. According to data from the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family, 190 applications have been rejected, while another 40 are under appeal. It is noted that the program will last until the amount of 50 million is pledged.

As it has become known, the program in question concerns renovations and repairs, in approximately 12,500 vacant houses with the aim of making them available for long-term leases. The maximum amount of the subsidy will amount to 4,000 euros with the possibility of an advance payment of 50% and for the first time the subsidized costs concern functional repairs and renovation works.

After the completion of the renovation, the property must be leased for at least three years to a private individual. The program is conducted with the assistance and supervision of the Public Employment Service (DYPA).

The program, according to the government, will make housing affordable for thousands of young people, couples and families, while as the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Sofia Zaharaki points out “we are coming to subsidize these renovations and add another “weapon” to the housing policy us in the battle for the reduction of rent prices”.

Who are beneficiaries?

Natural persons, owners or beneficiaries of residential real estate can be included in the program, for a residential real estate, as long as the following five conditions are met:

a) The Beneficiaries have full ownership or usufruct of the property in a percentage equal to or greater than 50%.

b) The property (apartment or detached house) has an area of ​​main areas up to 100 sq.m. and is located in a residential area (ie within a general urban plan or within an approved landscape plan or within settlement boundaries or within a settlement zone where special building conditions exist).

c) The Beneficiaries have an annual family taxable income, real or presumed, that does not exceed €40,000 and have real estate, the total value of which does not exceed the amount of €300,000. Annual family income means the total annual taxable, real or presumed, as well as the exempt or taxed in a special way income of spouses or cohabiting partners and protected children.

d) The property has not been declared as a first residence, has not been declared as rented and is declared as empty on the E2 form accompanying the income tax return of the last 3 years.

e) Beneficiaries have not received a subsidy for an energy saving or renovation program in their property in the last 5 years and have not joined subsidized energy saving programs for any of their properties, i.e. from 1.1.2019 onwards.

Eligible costs for work, materials, permits

Indicative of the costs may be included the work to renovate the bathroom, kitchen, replacement of the entrance door and interior doors, replacement of floors, replacement or repair of electrical and plumbing installations, structural elements, coatings, tiles, coloring and other similar works. Also, the costs for the purchase of the necessary materials, costs for any required IKA insurance contributions for the works and engineer costs for any issuance of permits, approvals or preparation of studies are foreseen.

The application process

Beneficiaries can submit their application through the Program platform on the Digital Portal https://www.gov.gr/ipiresies/periousia-kai-phorologia/epidoteseis-politon/anakainizo-noikiazo.

Most application fields are pre-populated through interoperability from the Public Sector bodies’ electronic databases. The beneficiary selects or fills in all the remaining blank fields.

The details that the beneficiary needs to know and submit when submitting the Application are indicative:

• The ATAK/s of the property, the inclusion of which is sought

• the budgeted amount of the total renovation expenditure without further supporting documents

• contact information (email address and mobile phone number)

• an active payment account number (IBAN) of a payment service provider (P.Y.P.) operating in Greece, of which he is a beneficiary or co-beneficiary.

Through the platform, beneficiaries will have the opportunity to monitor the progress of their application and grant.

Useful Information about the Program

• If any mandatory field of the application relating to the selected property is not pre-filled (such as the Electricity Supply Number), the applicant corrects the deficiency to the competent Authority (e.g. AADE) and then re-enters the special application of the Program for submitting the Application.

• Eligibility conditions are checked at the time of submission of the application either through interoperability with the electronic databases of the Public Sector bodies or by presenting to DYPA the supporting documents that may be requested.

• The applicant is informed of the approval of his application and his inclusion in the Program or of the rejection of his application for the selected property, with an immediate and automatic issuance of an approving or rejecting decision.

• In case of a negative decision, the applicant can submit an objection within 10 days according to the instructions of the Platform.

• If neither an approval nor a rejection decision is displayed, the application is being processed by the relevant DYPA Directorate, in which case the applicant will receive a personalized email message.

• The advance is paid directly to the account of the beneficiary and from the date of payment of the advance, the beneficiary can proceed with the renovation or repair costs.

• Expenses must be paid exclusively and only electronically, with one or more debit, credit and/or prepaid payment cards issued or to be issued to the A.F.M. of the beneficiary from the P.Y.P., where the beneficiary maintains the IVAN, which he declared in his application.

• Sanctions are foreseen for cases where the beneficiary does not comply with the Program regulations or does not provide the required supporting documents. Sanctions include revocation and refund of part or all of the subsidy and/or advance payment and disenrollment from the Program.