Andorra la VellaThe amendments of the Parliamentary Group Ciutadans Comromesos to the Bill for sustainable growth and the right to housing, known as the omnibus law, are aimed at supporting families, protecting tenants and landlords and a control in matters of ‘immigration
A first package of amendments aims to ease the economic situation of families, who have seen the cost of living increase in recent times. For this reason, the Parliamentary Group Committed Citizens proposes updates to deductions in the Personal Income Tax (IRPF).
The amount that people obliged to pay taxes can deduct goes from €750 to €1,000 to take care of children or elderly people. A reduction in the personal income tax for habitual residence is also contemplated, increasing the maximum threshold by which a mortgage can be deducted. Currently, it is €1,000 per year and the amendment proposes that it be €5,000 per year. We believe that it should contribute to lightening family burdens, especially with the interest rate hikes that the European Central Bank has carried out since 2023 and until September 2024.
In fiscal matters, the parliamentary group proposes to adapt the legislation to the current prices of the residential purchase market. For this reason, the exemption from the Property Transfer Tax (ITP) for the purchase of a first home or for the acquisition following a substantial change in the family situation (divorce, arrival of a child, taking care of an elderly person) goes from €400,000 to €500,000.
In order to protect tenants from the so-called “child trap”, the amendments of the Citizens Compromesos Parliamentary Group propose to make the professional in the real estate sector jointly liable in the event that he has participated in the infringement. The measure seeks an equitable distribution of responsibility and protection of tenants, as a more transparent real estate market is promoted.
In the Leases of urban estates, new types of serious administrative offenses are added. These are that of not formalizing the rental contract in writing and that of subletting part or all of the property without the consent of the property. As for the very serious administrative sanctions, the fact of renting a property as a home is included when there is no habitability certificate or it does not comply with the rules in force. We believe that it is crucial that the rental market is fair, that a minimum level of housing quality is guaranteed.
Finally, the third branch of the amendments deals with immigration. The Qualified Immigration Law is amended by adding a new requirement for the granting of residence and self-employment authorization. The amendment requires that the person must demonstrate that he is the owner of a home in the Principality or that he has initiated the procedures to become one. The measure must help greater integration in the country, at the same time that it helps to avoid temporary rentals and possible situations of speculation, with the distortions that this fact generates in the prices of the rental market.
Family reunification is another of the amendments presented by the GPCC. Specifically, the period of time that a person must effectively and permanently reside in Andorra to request it is modified. Currently, it is three months and if the amendment is approved it would go to half a year. In this way, the person requesting the regrouping will already have greater roots in the country.
In the articulation of the text, the concept of “underserved” has also been added to that of empty flats. A way to ensure that the regulations clearly distinguish between homes that are simply unoccupied on a temporary basis and those that have been abandoned or neglected by their owners. Incorporating the term “abandoned” makes it easier to identify homes that have been neglected, thus contributing to their degradation and associated problems such as safety, public health and the deterioration of the environment. This measure reaffirms the commitment of the parliamentary majority and the Government to the right, enshrined in the Constitution, to private property.
The amendments presented by the two parliamentary groups that support the executive have been agreed. Both the Democratic Parliamentary Group supports the spirit of the amendments of the Committed Citizens Parliamentary Group, and vice versa.