Realty rates to come under new scrutiny

Among the hot potatoes the new finance minister will have to handle is the adjustment of the taxable rates of properties, known as “objective values,” following complaints by almost half of the country’s mayors.

This need arises from the distancing of market rates from the objective values.

The initial plan was that by the first half of 2023, chartered surveyors would deliver recommendations for setting zone rates in 2,167 areas that remain outside the objective system. The process, according to all signs, will now last at least until the end of the year. This is the remaining 1.5% of the country where the required urban planning information is missing.

In terms of population, the settlements in question correspond to just 1.5% of the total population of the country and, as is obvious, they are not just remote but also sparsely populated or deserted settlements, which makes it extremely difficult to gather not only technical but also commercial data for the specific zones.

Therefore there are 650 of those settlements that do not have a single inhabitant, and another 500 settlements have no more than 10 residents. Some 800 settlements have up to 50 inhabitants.