Who lives in state apartments where the rent is 147 lei for two rooms? Ciucu: “I've been staying for 30 years and no one has asked him anything” / What does a studio apartment look like where the rent is 46 lei per month – PHOTO

The general mayor of the Capital, Ciprian Ciucu, estimates that the prices proposed by him for the rental of the homes from the municipality's heritage and managed by the Real Estate Fund Administration (AFI) would bring additional revenues of approximately 500 million lei to the city hall's budget.

Recently, the Capital City Hall offered the example of such homes rented for small amounts from the state, saying that the prices are “unimaginable” for “the city with the most expensive rents in the country”. Also then, the mayor Ciprian Ciucu announced that he initiated a council decision so that the price of these rents “increases from the current 0.85 lei/sq m to 8 lei/sq m (multiplied by the area coefficient)”.

“There are people who have been sitting there for 30 years and no one has asked them anything”

In Saturday's edition of Digi24's “In front of you” show, the mayor was asked who lives in these homes managed by AFI.

“There are about 4,050 such homes (…). They were given over time, 15, 20, even 30 years ago. There are people who have been living there for 30 years and no one asked them anything. Maybe at some point there were some criteria, this is also not very, very clear, how you could occupy such a home. I am convinced that when we talk about 20-30 years ago, we are talking about arbitrarily – whoever had files, relationships, etc., knowledge, probably received such homes with priority”, declared Ciprian Ciucu.

He said there is “no longer any justification for that policy” of renting out those homes for much less than market value.

“Suppose it would have been social, if you hadn't recovered in 20 years… Although not through convenient housing, if you have social problems, other are the administrative levers through which you must be protected, not through these convenient housing”, explained the mayor of the Capital.

Ciucu believes that the prices proposed by him are “correct”.

“I thought it was common sense, OK, we didn't really go to the market level, I'm towards the market level, but there are some fair prices that we proposed. Only from here – and I hope the General Council votes – we will get 500 million, which helps us balance our budget a little.

Images from “the apartment where the monthly rent costs 46 lei”

On February 17, the Capital City Hall published photos of a studio apartment managed by AFI on Abanosului Street in Sector 2, “whose contract has been renewed since the 70s” and which is currently rented for 46 lei per month.

“Per square meter it means 1.31 lei! Money with which, these days, you can't even buy a pretzel. And there are 25 such homes rented for 46 lei per month, whose contracts were renewed between 1999-2024, but the prices have not been updated for 20 years”, declared the City Hall of the Capital.

Also at that time, the municipality offered the example of a three-room apartment in the ultra-central area, where the rent costs 299 lei per month, but also that of a two-room apartment of 56 square meters, rented for 171 lei per month.

Examples of price increases expected by the Capital City Hall:

• The rent of 46 lei for the studio apartment will reach 564 lei;
• The rent of 229 lei for the 3-room apartment reaches 3,096 lei;
• A 2-room, 56 sqm apartment, which now costs 147 lei, will reach 1,568 lei in area A (central area) and 896 lei in area C after the update.