DEPUTY DANIEL ZAMFIR DROPS A NEW BOMB: "I am working on a legislative draft for those who have loans taken out through the «First Home» program"

The people who have borrowed from banks starting from the First Home program which could benefit from a similar law to the one that stipulates the giving in payment.

No more than two days after the Law of giving in payment was voted in the Parliament, liberal deputy Daniel Cătălin Zamfir said on Friday that he is working on a new legislative initiative, to come to the aid of First Home borrowers.

He said: "I am preparing a draft law to help those who have taken out loans as part of the First Home program. The initiative is meant to preserve the principle which states that, if the bank has repossessed the debtor's home, then the debt is extinguished. I am thinking of launching this draft within a week".

The First Home government program has been one of the main reasons for controversy around the law of giving in payment.

The NBR and the representatives of the banks, as well as some of the economic analysts have stated in unison that if this initiative will apply to those who have taken out loans under this program, then the latter is going to disappear from the market.

Others have mentioned that the program had already served its purpose and that it was nearing the end. Also, some real estate analysts claim that properties acquired through the First Home program represent a very small segment of the total volume of acquired homes. Radu Zilişteanu, a real estate expert, told us that loans taken out through the First Home program reach about 20,000 a year, out of the total volume of 700,000 deals made last year.

At the same time, demand for First Home loans and the requests for loans have increased vertiginously, in the first half of the year, amid the reexamination of the Law through which the debt gets extinguished once the collateral is handed over to the bank, according to specialists in the field.

After months of debates and pro and con statements on the issue, deputies have voted in favor of eliminating the First Home program from the Law of giving in payment.

Meanwhile, some of the banks have increased the downpayment for mortgages, and other financial institutions have announced that if the Law of giving in payment gets passed, they will tighten the lending conditions.

Last Wednesday, the law was voted in the plenum of the Chamber of Deputies, with 207 votes in favor, one abstention and one vote against it.

The deputies have voted the law, with a few amendments, which include the following: the limit on the borrowed amount has been set at 250,000 Euros, up from the initial value of 150,000 Euros; the new regulations will also apply to the debtors who have already been foreclosed on; the law will apply to all mortgage loans taken out for the acquisition of a home, regardless of whether they were guaranteed with a plot of land.

Once the legislative initiative was approved in the plenum, there is a five-day delay during which the law can be challenged with the Constitutional Court, and then it will go to the Presidency to be signed. The president has ten days to promulgate the law, as he no longer has the option to send it back to the Parliament for reexamination.