Riga City Council threatens to raise real estate tax 15 times for peeling paint on a house facade

The Riga City Council's Property Department's Construction Improvement Board has concluded that the walls of the building at Alekša Street 11 in Riga have not been repaired, cracks have been allowed to appear, the decorative elements of the building have been damaged, the finishing materials have cracked, the facade paint has been allowed to fade and peel off - and has ordered the building to be fixed up or the building will be subject to a slum tax and the real estate tax (RET) incentives will be revoked. Almost 300 buildings in Riga are already subject to the slum tax.

Residents received a letter with the administration's verdict on April 1. Within two months, the owners of the apartment building have to promise that within 1.5 years the building will be restored to its former glory. The residents of Alekša Street 11 have wanted this for a long time, and more than €60,000 had been collected at the beginning of this year. However, as successful cooperation with Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks did not develop, in March it was decided to change the management company and entrust the management of the house to Berga nami from May 1 this year, and to apply for one of the Riga municipality's tenders offering co-financing for the renovation of the building.

It is not known whether the renovations in this maze of paperwork will be completed in the one and a half years allowed. And like the sword of Damocles, the threat of putting the building in the same bag as literal slums will hang over their heads for this whole time.

As the Riga City Council Property Department (RCCPD) explains to Neatkarīgā, 2163 structures are registered in the database of the Construction Improvement Board. Regular monitoring of changes in the visual condition of these buildings is carried out. The Board also keeps a register of objects to be monitored: 230 buildings (preserved or under construction), as well as objects to be assessed: 1216 buildings. "The RCCPD Construction Improvement Board communicates with the owners of these structures, encouraging them to voluntarily improve the visual condition of these structures. If the communication and cooperation is not successful, the Board will refer the issue of the classification of the structures for the purposes of the RET to the Riga City Council Commission for Environmentally Degrading Structures for consideration," explains the Communication Board of the Riga City Council.

According to statistics compiled by the Riga City Council's Municipal Revenue Department, in 2022, 875 buildings will be subject to an increased RET rate of 3% (RET rates in Riga range from 0.2% to 3% of the cadastral value of the real estate, so that's a 15-fold increase).

"In order to apply such interest rate, the Riga City Council Commission for Environmentally Degrading Structures assesses and determines the status of a building (structure) as environmentally degraded, collapsed or endangering human safety. After the decision is made, the building is subject to the increased rate of 3% from the following month. At the same time, it should be reminded that the increase of the RET rate by more than two times is possible only for apartment owners who are natural persons, as well as in the case when the RET rate due to the object's deterioration is 0," informs the City Council, adding that the existing buildings are regularly inspected to observe changes in the visual condition.

According to the procedure established by the Property Department, new objects are inspected based on: the findings during the visual inspection carried out by an employee; an application from an individual; information provided on the website www.grausti.riga.lv; information provided by Riga City Council departments; information provided by public authorities; information published in the mass media, as well as information received from other sources.

INFORMATION

In Riga, the increased RET rate of 3% applies to:

Land which is not maintained in accordance with the procedure established by the regulatory enactments

Properties where unauthorized construction has been detected

Structures classified as environmentally degrading, dilapidated or endangering human safety

A structure whose construction has exceeded the total duration of construction works laid down in the normative acts

*****

Be the first to read interesting news from Latvia and the world by joining our Telegram and Signal channels.