Housing foundations exempted from real estate tax?

The Daily Herald writes that Housing foundations on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba may be exempted from real estate tax in the future. Dutch Minister of Housing and Government Service Stef Blok is looking at this possibility together with State secretary of Finance Frans Weekers, Blok stated in a letter to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament, dated October 28. Blok explained that he was in consultation with Weekers about the “desirability and possibility” to exempt landlords of social housing on the Dutch public entities. Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Housing and Government Services had asked the Minister to react to three letters from the Bonaire Housing Foundation FCB. In the letters, which haven’t been made public, the FCB indicated a number of bottlenecks in the management and upgrading of social homes on the island. Blok said that he was familiar with the bottlenecks and assured that these were “explicitly” on the agenda of consultations with the public entities of the Caribbean Netherlands.

The Minister announced that on his request, the Dutch Homeownership Guarantee Fund (Stichting Waarborgfonds Eigen Woningen) is looking at the possibilities to introduce the National Mortgage Guarantee in the Caribbean Netherlands and under which conditions this would be possible. The National Mortgage Guarantee helps new home owners to minimise the financial consequences of taking a mortgage and also cuts the interest rate considerably. It was an initiative of the former Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment VROM and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), and aims to promote the purchase of private property.

Blok further announced in his letter that he has been in contact with the Bonaire Government to discuss possible changes to the law that arranges the rental committee regulation as well as the Civil Code for the Caribbean Netherlands to erase the obstructions faced by the FCB. St. Eustatius and Saba will be involved in this process before he sends any proposal to amend the law to the Second Chamber, stated the Minister. “Proposals and possible consequences will also be discussed with the public entities St. Eustatius and Saba, since possible changes will also count for them.”