The ongoing first-phase applications to rent a flat in the government’s high-rise residential building for senior citizens on Plot P in Areia Preta district will run until December 31, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) has announced.
Construction of the rental housing estate for seniors is now scheduled to be completed next month. The estate will have a total of 1,815 studio-style units.
The process of submitting applications to rent a flat there started on November 6. Successful applicants in the ongoing first-phase application process, which covers 759 flats, will be offered a 20-percent discount on their rent during their first three-year lease, because of which the lowest rent for a flat will be 4,328 patacas per month.
Property management fees will be included in the rental fees. The tenants will, however, have to pay their utility bills.
Eligible seniors can submit their applications online or in person.
The estate’s operation will be overseen by the Social Welfare Bureau, which will assess the submitted applications to rent a flat there.
The bureau said in October that the first-phase application process was scheduled to run until a specified but then still unannounced date, after which the second-phase application process would be carried out on a permanent basis, i.e., eligible seniors would be able to file their applications at any time.
However, the government is yet to announce when the second-phase application process would start.
An IAS statement on Friday announced that the ongoing first-phase application process covering 759 flats will now run until December 31.
The bureau received 300 applications on the first day of the application process, i.e., November 6.
Friday’s statement said that as of Thursday the bureau had received 1,275 applications since the application process started.
The statement underlined that the application process has been “met with enthusiasm”.
The statement reminded seniors intending to apply for a flat to file their online applications by 11:59 p.m. on December 31.
However, the statement said, those intending to submit their applications in person at the various service points will be required to do so by Friday December 29.
This photo taken in October shows the rental housing estate for seniors on Plot P in Areia Preta district. – Photo: Tony Wong
