Lukashenko signed decrees that change the order of construction and lending of housing

On March 6, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed decrees aimed at improving approaches to housing construction and lending. This was reported to BelTA by the press service of the Belarusian leader.

Decree No. 95 "On State support for housing construction" was adopted in order to create a single regulatory document for providing citizens with state support for improving housing conditions. It combines all the existing forms of such support in the country.

The amount of state support is set at the current level. The categories of persons eligible for it (all civilian and military), the procedure and conditions for its provision remain.

The decree provides for three forms of state support for the construction or purchase of housing: preferential loans for the construction of single-family residential buildings, apartments in blockaded residential buildings, as well as for the purchase of single-family residential buildings, apartments in multi-family or blockaded residential buildings built by state order (21 categories of citizens); one-time subsidies for the construction or purchase of housing (17 categories of citizens); financial assistance from the state in repayment of debt on preferential loans (for large and young families, at the birth of children).

Certain categories of citizens may be eligible for all forms of government support.

Among the main innovations of the decree are the exclusion of citizens from participating in the shared-equity construction process and the provision of preferential loans only for the purchase of apartments in multi-family residential buildings built by state order (while individual residential buildings retain loans for construction and purchase). In addition, subsidies for debt repayment and interest on commercial loans for housing construction are being replaced by concessional loans.

In settlements with up to 20,000 people, preferential loans will be provided for the purchase of housing both on the primary market (built by state order) and on the secondary market.

Decree No. 94 in the new edition sets out Decree No. 215 dated May 8, 2013, which introduced the mechanism of the state order for housing construction.

The essence of the state order is that the construction of residential buildings is carried out by government contractors (UKSOS and other government organizations) without involving citizens at the construction stage. A preferential loan for the construction of a residential building is provided to the contracting authority. After putting the house into operation and concluding purchase and sale agreements with citizens, the debt on preferential loans is transferred to citizens.

The decree provides for the possibility of constructing part of the apartments in an apartment building by state order and part of the apartments at the expense of the budget to provide citizens with rental and social housing.

Among the innovations is also the sale of government-ordered housing to all citizens registered as needing better housing conditions (currently, only those eligible for state support).

All changes will take effect on June 1, 2025. State support for residential buildings, the construction of which began before the specified date, will be carried out on the same terms.