The Ministry of the Interior yesterday said that the rights of people eligible for a planned rent subsidy program would not be affected, even if their household registration does not reflect the location of their rented homes.
However, people who are unemployed need to be registered in the same city or county as the units they want to rent to qualify for the subsidies, it said.
Those who are employed and have presented documented proof would be eligible for the subsidies, even if their household registration information shows that they are from a different city or county, it said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The Executive Yuan on Thursday approved a rent subsidy program targeting single people aged 20 to 40, couples who have been married for no more than two years and families with children younger than 20.
The ministry said that people hoping to apply for the subsidies need not worry about having to change their household registration information to correspond with the address of their rented homes.
Many landlords are reluctant to submit applications to change their tenants’ household registration information to show the address of the units leased, as they would be taxed on them, it said.
However, to incentivize landlords to change tenants’ household registration information to reflect the addresses where they actually live, landlords who lease their units to tenants eligible for the subsidies would qualify as “landlords for the public interest.”
They would qualify for tax benefits, including a tax deduction, a house tax rate of 1.2 percent and a land value tax of 0.2 percent — the same rate as for self-use properties.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday trumpeted the rent subsidy program on Facebook, saying that applications would open on Sept. 1.
He also tried to raise awareness about several new regulations that came into effect this month.
Landlords cannot ask their tenants for a security deposit that is more than twice their monthly rent, and cannot reject a tenant’s request to update their household registration information, he said.
They must not charge their tenants more for electricity than Taiwan Power Co charges high electricity users in summer, Su said.
Landlords found to be in contravention of the aforementioned rules would face a fine of up to NT$300,000, he added.
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