766 applications have now been received by the real estate company Þórkatla and the majority of them have already been approved. All applications received in March, that did not require a special examination, have been processed, 528 applications in total. Applications received in March that needed special review are still being processed. Those cases deal, among other things, with changes in the number of square meters, irregularities in the legal domicile of the property, buildings under construction, and estates. The company will begin processing the 130 applications received in the first half of April in the coming days.

Þórkatla has already offered 415 homeowners in Grindavík to sign a purchase agreement or more than 55% of all applicants. 380 purchase agreements have been registered, worth a total of approx. ISK 30 billion and the company has paid 358 purchase agreement payments, worth a total of ISK 17.5 billion. It has acquired loans from 16 credit institutions worth approx. ISK 9 billion. Þórkatla is currently making between 30 and 40 purchase agreements per day and aims to finalize a purchase agreement with all 528 applicants who applied in March next week.

Various issues have complicated the completion of several purchase agreements, such as in the case of private insurance and mortgages, obligations on houses standing on private land, expired electronic IDs, and various other issues. Several parties have chosen not to sign the purchase agreement they received from Þórkatla. In such cases, people are offered the opportunity to receive a new contract when the applications received in April have been processed.

The Company is preparing to receive the first assets. A meeting will be held with the seller and an inspector from the company. Several sellers have requested to delay the planned possession date and the company has been open to such requests. A delay may require a change to the date of the deed and in such cases, a written annex to the purchase agreement will be required. The sellers will be contacted regarding the implementation of this.

“Overall, I am very pleased with the progress we have made. Having completed over 400 of the purchase agreements in the last few weeks means that we have redressed the situation of a similar number of families in Grindavík. It took us some time to get a handle on this complex project, but it’s all on track, thanks to the great team working on this project. We have had some difficulties staying on top of all direct inquiries from sellers. However, we have added some great people to the team, an addition I hope will lead to better response rate in the next few days ,” says Örn Viðar Skúlason, CEO of Þórkatla.