08/13/2020 - 7:00
- Clarín.com
- Cities
In Argentina,five million people rent a home, according to INDEC data. According to some civil associations, the figure grows to eight and a half million. For all that stream of tenants, September 30 is a pivotal date . That day a Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) that the national government published at the beginning of the quarantine expires and affects them directly.
The DNU created a parenthesis in which rental prices were frozen , evictions for non-payment were suspended and contracts were extended. But what was decreed on March 29 is valid until September 30, a date that is just over a month and a half away, and if there is no extension, it will mean a problem for millions of Argentine families.
Only in the City of Buenos Aires, according to the General Directorate of Statistics and Censuses, 35.2% of households are tenants (data from 2019); the percentage covers more than a million people.
"All the inquiries we receive today refer to the decree. At this time there is no other issue that worries more," says Gervasio Muñoz, head of Inquilinos Agrupados and one of the main promoters of the rent law that was voted and promulgated in June, during the pandemic.
In the City, 35.2% of homes are owned by tenants. Photo Juano Tesone
"There is a lot of uncertainty and economic unrest. The tenant who is not being able to pay the rent and needs the extension of the decree to keep the house, such as the one who is up to date with the payments but the contract expires and, accordingly, to finish the DNU, he does not have the money to renegotiate or face a move, "exemplifies Muñoz.
The decree, which is signed by President Alberto Fernández and his entire cabinet of ministers, established that the coronavirus pandemic required "extreme efforts to face not only the health emergency, but also the economic and social problems" and that, therefore Therefore, it had to ensure the right to health but also the right to housing .
The measures included in the DNU sought to mitigate the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis. But with the country immersed in a context of recession and subsequent quarantine, only in the first five months of this year the loss of employment affected 451,700 workers, both independent and in a dependency relationship. For a large number of tenants, meeting their obligations today is the same or more difficult than in March.
According to a survey by the National Federation of Tenants, 30% of the people who rent could not pay the entire month of August and half accumulate debts of at least two months. The study included more than 3,000 responses from tenants across the country. From the Federation they estimate that if the decree is not extended, more than a million homes will be at risk.
"There is a certain untidiness on the part of the Ministry of Territorial Development and Habitat of the Nation by not talking about an issue that distresses many people," says Muñoz. "They have not yet specified whether or not they will extend the decree . official to be able to plan the little time that remains until September 30. If the communication of an extension arrives a week before the expiration it will be late, because many will already have returned to live with their family or moved ".
In conversations with the national Ministry, Muñoz requested an extension until March of the DNU and a debt reduction plan for the sector, "so both tenants and owners have a clear picture of payment and collection." On this last point, the DNU proposed that the debts be paid from October , within a maximum period of six months from the first installment.
"The payment of the difference may include compensatory interest, which may not exceed the interest rate for fixed terms in pesos at 30 days that Banco Nación pays, but no punitive or late interest, or any other penalty may be applied," added the text.
Due to the quarantine, the presidential decree established that tenants pay their debts in installments from October. Photo Juano Tesone
"Half of the household income is used to pay the rent. It is a very large portion to pay or settle, in case there is an accumulation of months. That is why we request a debt reduction program . The absence of a plan will generate conflict between the parties ", anticipates Muñoz.
Clarín consulted sources from the Ministry of Territorial Development and Habitat, who confirmed that the expiration of the decree for the moment remains fixed on September 30. They also said that its eventual extension "depends on the evolution of the pandemic", which includes both the number of infected and the economic and social situation.
48 days left.
NS