The real estate company Þórkatla will base its rental prices for residential property in Grindavík on market rent, taking into account the conditions in Grindavík at any given time. It has been decided that rentals through this year will amount to 25% of market rent in Suðurnes. The rental will take into account the fire-relief assessment of the properties and will be around ISK 625 per square meter through this year. It will therefore be possible to rent a 100 square meter house in Grindavík at ISK 62,500 per month, for example. Furthermore, the lessee pays for heat and electricity.

The company has decided that for the time being, real estate will only be leased to its previous owners. The company will introduce further arrangements for the leasing of the properties in the near future. In the future, it will be considered to lease out to others the properties in Grindavík that sellers have not requested a priority right to.

Introduce lease arrangements

In the long term, market rent will also be considered when renting property to previous owners, but taking into account the specific circumstances in the town at any given time. The lease price will also take into account the fire-exempt assessment of the properties and the monthly rent is based on 0.5% of the fire-exempt assessment per square meter. This means that for houses where the fire-exempt assessment per square meter is ISK 500,000, the rent, before taking into account the circumstances in Grindavík, will be ISK 2,500 per square meter.

Þórkatla received their first assets today

The milestone occurs today when Þórkatla takes over the first assets in Grindavík. Special return meetings take place where the representatives of the company and the sellers review the condition of the assets and a special return report is made. The sellers will receive an invitation to the return meeting by e-mail.

85% of applications have been approved

The real estate company Þórkatla has now approved the purchase of 660 properties in Grindavík with a purchase value of approximately ISK 52 billion. This is about 85% of the 781 applications that the company has received. The company has already approved nearly all applications received before April 16 and does not have any deviations that require special examination. The company has now offered a purchase agreement to 513 parties, or 66% of all applicants. There are 471 purchase agreements announced by parliament and the company has paid ISK 22.2 billion in purchase agreement payments and has acquired loans from 16 credit institutions with a value of ISK 11.4 billion.

There are various explanations for delays in individual cases

Some complaints have been addressed by traders who have waited for their cases to be processed by Þórkötlu. There are usually irregularities that have caused the matters to not be resolved in a simple way. In some cases, minor issues such as expired electronic IDs of traders have delayed the cases. More often, however, there are more complex processing issues such as collateral letters from private parties and lenders that are outside the framework agreement between the lenders and Þórkötlu. It has also occurred that collateral is still on assets due to paid loans that have failed to be lifted from the property.

Þórkatla encourages applicants who are still waiting to receive payments to study the loans that are outstanding on their assets and work to lift insurance bonds and such loans that could delay the execution.

Some cases closed in writing this week

In cases where the purchase and registration could not be completed in an electronic process, the process has been set up to process those cases in writing. This week, several cases will be completed against estates and parties who do not have electronic identification. The company is still evaluating several buildings that are in the construction stage. Finally, further information has been requested from parties who have requested an exemption from the requirement of legal domicile. Work is also underway with the Farmers and HMS on the development of a solution for residence rights holders in Grindavík.