Government to shake up troubled rental housing sector

According to a government study released on September 24th, Morocco faces a shortage of developers in both the public and private rental housing sectors, few financial and legal incentives for people to rent and an ill-defined and mutually-suspicious relationship between landlords and tenants.
The government is proposing a 20% cut in the level of taxation on rent and the total elimination of tax paid by small landlords on their rental income. 70% of landlords would like to see the tax breaks available in the property sector extended to the rental sector. The tax changes also support Morocco's new scheme for expanded social housing. The plan would give higher tax allowances for profits earned from homes rented to low-income families, tax breaks for rental-sector investments and subsidised long-term loans for the construction of affordable rental housing.
Housing, Town Planning and Development Minister Ahmed Taoufik Hejira has high hopes that these proposals will restore trust between real-estate investors and potential tenants in order to fill some 163,000 currently empty rental properties. Formalising the rental contract will also protect tenants. Some landlords are unofficially leasing their properties in order to avoid paying tax, leaving renters with no legal protection.

via magharebia.com