Brno wants to allow interested parties to repair city apartments

Brno - Brno city councilors are proposing a change to the rules for renting city apartments. People should have the option to repair the apartment at their own expense and then deduct those costs from the rent. The councilors informed about this at today's meeting with journalists.

"Currently, the city districts have over 1,000 vacant apartments, largely because they are not in a habitable condition and therefore have been unoccupied for a long time. In the district of Brno-Centre alone, there are over 400 vacant apartments, and in Brno-North over 300 apartments. Hundreds of apartments will thus be immediately available to applicants," said Jiří Oliva, the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Property Management.

The cost of repairs must not exceed 2,500 crowns per square meter of the total area of the apartment. The basic rental conditions, including the extent of repairs and the method of cost compensation, will be set by the specific city district offering the apartment for rent.

Councilors also want to change the rules for renting so-called starter apartments. The basic rental period would remain two years, but it could be extended not by one year but by two years. Furthermore, extensions are no longer only permissible in exceptional cases; this note has been removed. "We are trying to accommodate young people, for whom it is increasingly difficult to secure funds for obtaining a mortgage and their own housing," stated Oliva.

The update of the rules will be approved by the councilors at their meeting on June 16.