On Introducing Ammendments and Additions to Decree No43 of the President of the Republic of Belarus of 28 January 2008

This document produces improvements to some legislative acts relating to the citizens’ right for better housing conditions.

According to the regulations governing the operations of housing development organisations, as adopted through Decree No43 of 28 January 2008, the organisations constructing standard-quality residential housing with governmental support should be composed by 30 per cent of the citizens entitled to preferential loans to be given on terms of priority, and by 70 per cent of those who have no such entitlement (that is, who are entitled to preferential loans, but not on terms of priority).

This situation caused complaints from the citizens who had been registered on the housing improvement waiting list for a long time, but who were not entitled to preferential loans. Often such people did not qualify for membership of housing development organisations because their income was slightly bigger than that required to qualify for preferential loans (today, the income should not exceed Br1,089,000). Because of that, such individuals were limited in their opportunities to use their right to construct standard-quality residential housing through a local executive authority, regulatory authority, state body or other agency, i.e. to construct housing at a lower price than that offered in the market.

Decree No100 sets forth that membership of housing development organisations will now be determined by the local government bodies, state government bodies and organisations; thus housing development organisations will be composed of citizens registered on the housing improvement waiting list, in the order of sequence, regardless of their right to state support (preferential loans).

In addition, commercial partnerships whose shares (shares in the statutory fund) are owned by the Republic of Belarus or by its administrative and territorial units are entitled to set up housing development organisations composed of the citizens registered on the housing improvement waiting list.

The Decree retains the provision that a housing development organisation should first of all include citizens entitled to preferential loans to be given on priority terms (such individuals are to comprise up to 30 per cent of the membership of such an organisation).