Riga Residents to Be Required to Pay Insurance Contributions When Renting Housing 0 18

The Riga municipality plans to include insurance contributions in the rent for residential premises, the capital's council informed the LETA agency.

The Housing and Environment Department of the Riga City Council has prepared a draft of mandatory regulations "On Rent for Residential Premises in Riga," which stipulates that costs associated with the use of residential premises will include payments for home insurance.

The public discussion of the regulations concluded on December 8.

As reported, an explosion occurred in one of the apartments in a residential building at 50 Bauskas Street in Riga, resulting in the deaths of two people - a resident of the apartment and an employee of the company "Gaso." The explosion, which partially destroyed the fifth and fourth floors of the building, took place in a municipal apartment.

Chairman of the Riga City Council Viesturs Kleinbergs, in the program "900 Seconds" on TV3, responded to the question of why the municipality does not insure all its apartments by stating that it is quite expensive and there is a risk that in such a case, the State Audit Office would point out the unreasonable expenditure of funds, as the money spent on insurance over several years could be used to build a new residential building.

"The issue is that perhaps it would be advisable to insure high-risk housing, for example, those with wood heating, gas cylinders, etc., but this does not apply to the apartment where the explosion occurred," the mayor noted.