To the Minister of Finance Mr. Christos Staikouras
The Minister of Development Mr. Adoni Georgiadis
The Minister of Employment Mr. Giannis Vroutsis
The Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis
The Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Apostolos Vesyropoulos
Government Representative Mr. Stelios Petsa
The Commander of AADE Mr. Giorgos Pitsili
Here Athens, December 11, 2020
SUBJECT: Rent Reduction, Corrections to COVID Statements & bogus “work suspension”!
Dear Ministers, Governors
In view of the imminent extension for the month of December of the mandatory reduction of real estate rents, and the delay in compensation for those affected owners, we point out the following:
- MANDATORY RENT REDUCTION FOR DECEMBER. The extension of the mandatory rent reduction is justified only for businesses that will continue to remain closed, without any possibility of their operation. It should therefore not continue for businesses and services that have either never ceased operations, or will open within the holiday season.
- CLEARING COVID STATEMENTS. From the published figures of the AADE, it appears that the affected owners are 514,806 but offsets have been made to only 227,887, with 79,306 owners being treated as non-beneficiaries while 19,680 statements have errors that need to be corrected. In other words, the State still owes half of the affected owners the refunds of 30% from the first wave of the pandemic, while the forced reductions and the COVID declarations for the second wave have already begun, the refunds of 50% of which are not linked to tax offsets. The number of 80,000 who will receive absolutely no refund for rent reductions suffered in previous months, not even an answer as to why this happened, is huge, and there are still a number of landlords who have missed reporting deadlines because they were informed late by their tenants. . It is unacceptable for any procedural or technical problems to invalidate the substance, that is, to deprive real estate lessors of even partial compensation. That is why the platform for declaring reductions or correcting errors of the previous period must be reopened immediately, with clear instructions for their action.
3. PRESENTATION OF “JOB SUSPENSION”: MINIMUM DURATION & DEADLINE FOR NOTIFICATION TO THE LESSOR. POMIDA constantly receives complaints from all over the country about an unacceptable practice at the expense of landlords of main and student housing. Some employers, taking advantage of the loophole in the law that does not specify a minimum number of days per month, for suspension of the employment contract, put their employees on a sham “suspension” lasting only 2-3 days per month, so that the latter claim a reduction in their rents every month from their landlords! And many of them announce the “suspension” many months late to their landlords, and after they have already missed the deadline for submitting COVID declarations! In order to limit this “for the health of the clowns”, but also at the expense of the State itself, ongoing collusion, we request that for all mandatory rent reductions, the 14-day period as defined for the reduction of professional rents (L.4753/2020, article 33 par. 1b), and the reduction should only apply if the announcement of the suspension to the landlord in time before the end of the deadline he has for submitting the COVID declaration.
Regards
The President Secretary
Stratos I. Paradias Tasos G. Vappas
