On May 25 this year, changes to the cost conditions to be taken into account by local governments when organising of accommodation and catering for Ukrainian civilians come into force. The purpose of the changes is to ensure that primary assistance is provided to potentially more Ukrainian civilians, while making reasonable and efficient use of state budget resources.
Still, in choosing the type and place of accommodation, local governments have to take into account the needs of Ukrainian civilians and choose the most economically advantageous form and place of primary assistance. In case Ukrainian civilians has not been voluntarily accommodated by a Latvian household, the local government has the duty to organise accommodation for Ukrainian civilians, primarily considering the possibility of doing this in the accommodation places owned, possessed or held by the local government or entering into a rental agreement with a private person (landlord) regarding the rental of housing. However, if the abovementioned accommodation options are not possible in the specific case, the local government will assess the possibility of transferring persons to other accommodation places (e.g. a tourist accommodation).
The local government may enter into a rental agreement with a private person (landlord) for the accommodation of a Ukrainian civilian, having previously conducted a price poll or market research to select the most economically justified service provider’s offer. In such a case, the local government will pay the private person (landlord) compensation for the use of the housing at 100% of the contracted rent, which will include all payments related to the use of the housing, including utility payments, but not more than 400 euro per month per housing.
As in the case of the conclusion of a rental agreement with any private person, the landlord with whom the local government concludes a rental agreement on the accommodation of Ukrainian civilians, must pay taxes. Accordingly, the landlord may choose to register economic activity in the State Revenue Service (SRS) and to pay 23% income tax or not to register economic activity, but to submit an apartment rental agreement to the SRS and to pay 10% of gross income for the rented apartment.
At the same time, please be reminded that households or natural persons representing them, who accommodate Ukrainian civilians free of charge, may be compensated for the additional costs they incur when accommodating Ukrainian civilians for up to 90 days.
On the other hand, if the local government uses other forms of accommodation to accommodate Ukrainian civilians – accommodation place, tourist accommodation, etc. at the disposal of the local government, these costs of the local government will be covered by the state at 100% of the actual costs of accommodation, but not more than 15 euro/day per person.
In the case where no accommodation corresponding to the costs specified is available in the territory of the local government, the local government may, for a period of time until adequate accommodation is available, but for a maximum of 7 days, accommodate Ukrainian civilians in places whose costs exceed the costs specified in the regulation or 15 euro/day per person.
As before the state will also cover the costs incurred by local governments in providing food for Ukrainian civilians, but as of May 25 these costs will not exceed 10 euro per person per day.
A report on the services provided in the respective month and their extent should be submitted to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, which will accordingly compensate local governments for the costs incurred when supporting Ukrainian civilians.