Polička has increased the price of rent in municipal apartments since January. The increase amounts to 15 to 20 percent. The town hall was prompted to take this step by high inflation and the associated rise in interest on loans for the construction of some city flats, according to Mayor Jaroslav Martinů (ODS).
“During the construction of some flats, we had set the payments so that the costs would be paid off in 25 years. When I saw the last balance sheet, how much we collected from rent and how much we paid for interest and principal, we had a million-dollar ‘axe’. We certainly wouldn’t have paid it off in 25 years as we originally thought, it would have taken much longer,” said Martinu.
The interest rate the city was paying on the bank loan increased from 0.59 to 2.90 percent. Martinů said Polička used to build flats at a cost of CZK 27,000 per square metre and even that seemed expensive to some councillors, but today it would pay up to CZK 80,000. Last year, tenants in Polička paid between CZK 44 and CZK 130 per square metre per month. Since January, the range has increased to between 53 and 150 crowns. The town owns about 55 ordinary flats. The increase in rents does not apply to social flats in the home for the elderly.
Some time ago Polička bought the building of an empty children’s home from the Pardubice Region and wanted to convert it into flats. Due to the rising prices of building materials and works, as well as interest rates, the town is negotiating with STV Group, which has a weapons production facility in nearby Bořiny, to buy the entire project and make it happen. It would then sell several apartments to Polička at cost price.
Source: CTK
