The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, advanced this Tuesday that he will open a round of talks with financial institutions to review the conditions of promoter credit and loans to buyers, with the goal of facilitating the construction of one million homes in Spain and the generation of 500,000 “real” jobs.
Along these lines, Feijóo has shown himself confident of being able to close an understanding with the banks: "We are going to sit down with the banking sector and tell it that in Spain it is a government and State objective to build one million homes, therefore, we are going to see what we are going to do with promoter credit and with mortgage credit and I am convinced that we are going to reach an agreement because banks are intelligent and because the Government has the appropriate instruments for that agreement to be formalized," he highlighted.
During an informative breakfast organized by Europa Press, the PP leader described access to housing as "a vital emergency problem" that requires acting "immediately and surgically".
For this reason, he reiterated that, if he reaches La Moncloa after the elections of November 29, he will promote in the first hundred days of his term an amendment to the Land Law, the approval of an anti-occupation law and changes to the Horizontal Property Law.
Feijóo stressed that, if he assumes the Presidency of the Government, he will make the promotion of one million homes a State objective, which, according to his calculations, will imply the creation of 500,000 "real" jobs. "And they will not be permanent discontinuous workers, those who work two days a week and then do not show up in unemployment", he added.
"The sector says that with one million homes more than half a million jobs are created. I prefer to give a figure and then raise it than give it and then lower it, which is the tone of Spanish politics", the PP leader pointed out.
Tax measures for young people, owners and tenants
In the tax sphere, Feijóo has proposed a specific fiscal program for under-40s who buy their first home, with a 60% reduction in the tax burden. "We have to restore hope to young people. We will make an extremely exceptional tax package", he emphasized.
The PP initiative includes reducing VAT from 10% to 4% on new housing and lowering the Property Transfer Tax (ITP) from 10% to 4% on second-hand properties, allowing this tax to be paid in installments over the years the mortgage loan is in force.
In addition, it proposes creating a housing savings account with deductions during the first four years of working life and enabling public guarantees of up to 100% of the guarantee required by financial institutions.
As for renting, it has advanced tax deductions for tenants depending on their income level and tax benefits for landlords who renew contracts for three years with increases below the CPI.
Licenses in 90 days through positive administrative silence
In the administrative and urban planning sphere, Feijóo has defended requiring town councils to make public the processing times in their urban planning departments and has proposed that, if a council does not respond to a license request in 90 days, it be granted by positive administrative silence, without prejudice to being able to halt the works later if the developer fails to comply with the regulations.
In this regard, he has questioned that in cities like Madrid the current regulations allow a shopping center to be built through a responsible declaration but not a six-story residential building. "It is not the responsibility of the Madrid City Council, it is the current legislation," the leader of the 'populares' emphasized.
In this context, he has accused the central Government of blocking in Congress laws that had already been approved in the Senate, explicitly citing the Land Law and the anti-squatting regulations promoted by the PP.
"We are going to send a message where the owner is the owner of his home," Feijóo said about squatting, rebuking the fact that there are public administrations that buy occupied properties and keep the squatters inside while other citizens make efforts to pay rents of up to 1,300 euros.
In his view, "it cannot be easier to live occupying an illegal dwelling than to live paying a mortgage or paying rent," which is why he has reiterated his commitment to push through an anti-squatting law that, as he has recalled, was already approved in the Senate and remains blocked by the Government in the Congress Bureau.