Government Rolls Out Security Deposit Loans for Home Renters

The government has unveiled its coronavirus aid package for home renters.
According to Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati, a total of 200 trillion rials ($915 million) out of the 750 trillion-rial ($3.43 billion) coronavirus bailout will be allocated to low-income renters as security deposit assistance at the lending rate of 13%. 
“About 600,000 households have been found eligible for the security deposit assistance loan,” says Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
The interest-only security deposit loans worth 500 million rials ($2,288) in Tehran, 300 million rials ($1,372) in large cities with a population over one million, namely Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, Tabriz, Qom, Ahvaz and Kermanshah, and 150 million rials ($686) in other Iranian cities will be paid in the name of the tenants but the sum will be put at the landlord’s disposal.
Parvaneh Aslani, the head of the ministry’s Housing Economy Department, said the landlord is required to return the principal (the original sum of money borrowed) to the bank after a year while renters will repay 12-month installments worth 5.4 million rials ($24) in Tehran, 3.25 million rials ($14.8) in large cities and 1.6 million rials ($7.3) in other cities.