Home support for families with many children

Closed

Purpose

The application round for Home Support is closed.

The objective of Home Support is to improve the living conditions of low-income families raising three or more children.

The target group of the support is large families who do not own a dwelling or whose dwelling does not meet modern living conditions.

With the help of this support, these families can

a) build a home, incl.

  • erect,
  • add an extension to,
  • remodel,
  • renovate,
  • establish, alter and replace the building’s heating, electricity, gas, water and sewerage system;

b) buy a home.


Before applying for Home Support, please read the following homepage sections

  1. “Requirements for the applicant”
  2. “Documents required to apply”

We also give some advice on how to apply for the support and calculate taxable income. Read more in the homepage section “Frequently asked questions” here.


Send the application and the supporting documents in the e-service environment, digitally signed (web forms are available in the e-service environment).
Please send any questions and the disbursement documents to the e-mail address [email protected]. Please Note! The maximum size of one letter is 10MB. Larger messages may not arrive. 

Benefits

  • The living conditions of large families will improve.
  • Thanks to the improved living conditions, social exclusion will decrease.
  • With the help of the support, the families can buy, build, add an extension to or renovate their home and modernise its heating, electricity, gas, water and sewerage system.

For who?

Pere logo

private and family

Service is suitable if

  • the family is raising at least three children up to the age of 19 (included);
  • the taxable income received in 2022 per household member in one month was up to EUR 450;
  • the household does not own more than one dwelling;
  • there are no court judgments against the applicant who is the owner of the dwelling that have entered into force for initiating bankruptcy proceedings for a natural person or declaring a natural person bankrupt (unless the person is released from the ob
  • the applicant who is the owner of the dwelling does not have any debts exceeding EUR 1500 and there are no pending enforcement proceedings for the collection of such debts
  • the term of the right of residence or residence permit of at least one parent exceeds the term of fulfilling the obligations of the applicant and recipient of the support (at least five years);
  • the applicant has previously received Home Support no more than once
  • during the period of five years preceding the submission of the application, no decision has been made to partially or fully reclaim the support given to the applicant.

Important conditions

What is the Home Support for?

1. For buying a dwelling for the household, if the household does not have a privately owned dwelling or it does not meet modern living conditions.

The dwelling to be bought must correspond to the requirements set to the dwelling. You may read about the requirements of subsection 11 (4) of the Building Code here.

The purchasing of one dwelling or dwellings located side by side or on top of each other or living quarters next to the dwelling owned by the applicant or on top or below of it with the aim of assembling them together into one dwelling is permitted.

A dwelling cannot be bought from a household member or from a person who is a direct blood or collateral relative. (Direct blood relatives are parents and their ancestors, children and their descendants. Collateral relative is a person who is a descendant of the same person, however is not a direct blood relative.)

2. For construction-related activities involving a dwelling, if the dwelling in the ownership of the household does not correspond to modern living conditions

A dwelling does not correspond to modern living conditions, when

  • there is no water and sewerage system, or
  • there are no washing facilities, or
  • the roof is not waterproof, or
  • the fireplaces do not ensure optimal indoor air temperature, or
  • the living conditions need modernisation (renovation) for another reason, or
  • there is not enough space for the family.

The dwelling must be in the ownership or co-ownership of the applicant or a child of up to 15 years of age.

Construction-related activities are

  • erection of a construction work;
  • remodelling;
  • adding an extension;
  • renovation;
  • installation, alteration or replacement of utility systems or networks;
  • purchasing building materials for the aforementioned works and activities relating to preparing the building design documentation to implement the project and owner supervision.

The cost of building design documentation is eligible within 20% of the support amount and provided that the construction works are carried out as a part of the project and the project design documentation was prepared after 1 March 2016.

The cost of building materials or products is eligible provided that the building material or product is bought from a legal person.

When is the expenditure incurred eligible?

The time-limit for the implementation of the project is two years following the entry into force of the decision approving the application? The costs made during this period are eligible.

The costs incurred by the applicant on activities prior to the entry into force  of the decision approving the application are not eligible, except for the cost of preparing the building design documentation and provided that the dwelling is bought during the time of processing the application.

Read more from subsection 5 (4) of the regulation here.

Which costs are not covered by support?

The following costs are ineligible:

  • Notary’s fees, state fees, fines and legal costs.
  • Connection charges for utility and communications systems.
  • Cost for purchasing building materials or products, if the seller belongs to the applicant or support recipient.
  • Costs that are unjustified or irrelevant to the implementation of the project.
  • Costs, the source of funding of which is another support allocated from state budget, European Union or other external assistance.

You can read more about eligible and ineligible costs here.

Amount of Home Support

The maximum amount of support is EUR 10,000.

NB! We support the improvement of living conditions in the extent of up to 100% of the project cost; however, not more than the maximum amount of support. If the total project cost exceeds EUR 10,000, the applicant must ensure the remaining cost of the project by providing self-financing.

A family raising three or four children, who has previously received Home Support, can apply for the support for a second time within the amount of EUR 5000.

A family raising five or more children, who has previously received Home Support, can apply for the support for the second time within the amount of EUR 10,000.

Home Support may be provided twice to one family.

Requirements for the applicant

The support can be applied for by a legal parent, parents who are married or cohabitants, adoptive parent(s), guardian(s) and a foster parent (partner of the parent, who is not a legal parent to any child raised in the household).

NB! If the household includes two parents (one parent and their partner), they have to submit a joint application and they are treated as co-applicants. The application must contain the details of both parents and both must sign the application.

The following persons are always considered household members
1) applicant;
2) at least three children up to the age of 19 (included) from the current or previous relationship or being raised in the family under a guardianship or custody agreement.

Besides the aforementioned, a household may also include additional household members:

  • applicant’s child aged 20-21, who is a pupil or student;
  • applicant’s child over 19 years of age with no work ability or who has been declared permanently incapable of work;
  • applicant’s parent, who is an old-age pensioner, with no work ability or declared permanently incapable of work.

The support can be applied for by a household whose taxable income for the calendar year of 2022 per household member was up to EU 450 in a month.

The term of the right of residence or residence permit of at least one parent must exceed the term of fulfilling the obligations of the applicant and recipient of the support, stipulated in the regulation.

For construction-related activities, the applicant or his/her child of up to 15 years of age must be the owner or co-owner of the dwelling serving as the object of the project. For co-ownership, KredEx supports the project costs in proportion to the share in the common ownership.

The applicant and/or his/her child of up to 15 years of age may own no more than one immovable property qualifying as a dwelling, unless these are apartments or parts of a house placed side by side or on top of each other that are connected to each other or if the support is requested for connecting these.

The dwelling owned by the applicant and serving as the object of the project must be free of restrictions in the land register, incl. seizures and notations concerning a prohibition on transfer of property.

All household members must be registered in the population register as the users of the dwelling serving as the object of the project and the dwelling must be the permanent residence of the household.

In the event of purchasing or building a new dwelling or remodelling an uninhabitable dwelling, all household members must be registered at one and the same address (actual place of residence).

The applicant, who is the owner of the dwelling, may not

  • be a subject of pending enforcement proceedings to settle a debt according to the enforcement register,
  • have debts (payment defaults) exceeding EUR 1500 according to Creditinfo,
  • be a subject of court judgments that have entered into force for initiating natural person’s bankruptcy proceedings or declaring a natural person bankrupt, unless the person is released from the obligation not satisfied in the bankruptcy proceedings.
Requirements for second time Home Support applicants

The applicant may have received Home Support only once before.

At the time of applying for the Home Support for the second time, the applicant must have

  1. used the previous Home Support for its intended purpose,
  2. implemented the project by its term, and
  3. submitted to KredEx the final report on using the support.

A person, in respect to whom a decision to reclaim the support in part or in full has been made within five years preceding the submission of the application, cannot apply for the support.

Documents required to apply

To apply for the Home Support, we ask you to submit the following documents:

1. Application

You have three options for submitting the application.
a) If you submit the application on the Internet in the KredEx e-service environment, you will find the necessary forms there in the electronic format. You need to provide a digital signature.
b) PDF-file of the application: fill in the form on your computer and submit it by e-mail (form is available here). You need to provide a digital signature.
c) Word-file (doc-file) of the application: print out the form, complete it on paper, sign it, and send it by post (form is available here).

NB! You do not need to enclose any identification documents, marriage certificates or birth certificates of children to the application.

The application form will be available in the KredEx e-service environment and on its webpage from the starting date of the application round.                                   

2. Tax certificate(s) of all adult household members on the taxable income received in 2022

If a household member is obliged to submit an income tax return, the certificate must contain the same information on his/her income that is specified in his/her natural person’s income tax return. This means that

  1. first, he/she shall submit the income tax return to the Tax and Customs Board (this can be done from 15 February to 2 May 2023),
  2. thereafter he/she shall take a tax certificate from the e-service of the Tax and Customs Board and shall send it to KredEx.

Please note!

  • You should also submit a tax certificate if you did not receive any taxable income in 2022 (this way you certify to KredEx that you did not have any taxable income during the year).
  • The tax certificate must be signed by the Tax and Customs Board digitally or on paper.
  • Please do not submit your income tax return instead of the tax certificate!

You can read more about taxable income and the tax certificate here.

An income tax return received from a foreign tax authority has to be submitted

  • if an adult household member worked abroad in 2022 as a non-resident;
  • together with the tax certificate of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (also, if the person did not receive any taxable income in Estonia in 2022).

3. Construction budget 

Construction-related activities are the erection, adding an extension to, remodelling and renovation of a dwelling and the installation, alteration or replacement of utility systems.

If you apply for the support for construction-related activities, submit to KredEx

  1. price quote (one or more),
  2. budget prepared on the basis of price quote(s), and
  3. photos.

How many price quotes do I need, and from whom?

  • You apply for the support to purchase building materials and products or equipment and you carry out or organise the building works yourself – submit one price quote from the seller to KredEx.
  • You apply for the support to order construction works together with the building materials and products or equipment offered by the construction company or just to order the building or installation works (the works may be carried out by a company or a sole proprietor) – submit two comparative price quotes from the performer of the work(s) to KredEx.

Submit the construction budget and other required documents to KredEx using
a) the web form in the e-service environment, or
b) the form in a file, if you submit the application by e-mail or post (form is available here).

For example, you need to submit as supporting documents one or two close-up photos about the deficiencies of the dwelling (e.g. a hole in the roof, water damage in the ceiling, broken heater, rotten window frames, dry toilet), for the improvement of which you need the support.

Read more about the construction-related activities and required supporting documents
 here.

4. Description of the dwelling to be purchased

If you are applying for support to purchase a dwelling, submit the initial idea for your new dwelling to KredEx, which corresponds to the needs of your household and which you would like to buy for the support.

For that, choose the sample dwelling from among the sales offers and prepare a description of the dwelling to be purchased on the basis of it.

Submit the description of the dwelling to be purchased and other required documents to KredEx using
a) ​​​​the web form in the KredEx e-service environment, or
b) ​​​​​​on the KredEx form, if you are submitting the application by e-mail or post (form is available here).

Also, you may submit an application for purchasing the dwelling, which already is in the use of your household, for example, under a lease contract or a contract under the law of obligations.

Please note!

  • If you choose a sample dwelling for your application, we do not recommend entering into binding agreements with its seller (e.g. pre-booking, making down payments), as the processing of the applications takes a long time and we cannot guarantee that each applicant will receive support.
  • You do not need to enclose photos of the dwelling to be purchased with the application.
  • If you received a decision from KredEx on the approval of the application, it does not entitle you to automatically purchase the dwelling specified in the application. The purchase must be approved in advance by KredEx.

Read more about purchasing the dwelling and the required documents here.

5. Photos of the dwelling

Submit photos or the dwelling owned by you or a child up to 15 years of age, if you are applying for the support for
a) construction-related activities involving this dwelling (for the erection of a new dwelling, adding an extension to, remodelling or renovating an existing dwelling, completing an unfinished dwelling or remodelling an uninhabitable dwelling, as well as for the installation, alteration or replacement of the heating, electricity, gas, water and sewerage system of the existing dwelling), or
b) purchasing a new and more suitable dwelling for the household.

The photos must enable KredEx to assess your current living conditions and the situation, the deficiencies of the dwelling and the need for support.
Requirements for photos

  1. Two photos of the exterior of the house (front and back) in a way that the envelope elements (roof, facade, basement, doors and windows) are visible.
  2. One or two photos of the living space in the house or apartment (vestibule, kitchen, sauna, toilet, living room, bedrooms, etc.) in a way that the doors, windows, floors, walls, ceilings and heating solution (furnace, stove, heat wall, heat pump, fireplace, etc.) of the rooms are visible.
  3. Submit one photo of the exterior of the sauna in an outbuilding and two photos of the washing and steam room inside.
  4. For construction-related activities, one or two close-up photos about the deficiencies of the dwelling (e.g. a hole in the roof, water damage in the ceiling or walls, rotten window frames, broken heater, mould), for the improvement of which you need the support.

NB! The photos must be as complete as possible and of high quality. Do not submit photos that are blurry, black-and-white or were taken when it’s dark. Also, photos, which show only single parts of the room (except for photos aimed at showing the deficiencies of the dwelling) are unsuitable.

Options for submitting photos
To submit photos and other required documents to KredEx you can choose from three options: Submit these either
a) as files in the e-service environment as an annex to the application, or
b) as files attached to an e-mail, if you submit the application by e-mail, or
c) in paper format or as printouts of digital photos, if you submit the application by post.

Requirements for image files

Name each photo to explain which room or part of the dwelling is depicted.

Please note that if you submit the application and additional documents by e-mail, we can receive files up to 10 MB in one e-mail. You have two possibilities:
a) send the image files in several e-mails (each e-mail up to 10 MB), or
b) copy all photos into one Word document and attach these to the application as one file.

Please do not insert the images in the e-mail but attach them in a file/files.

6. Supporting documents, to be submitted if necessary

  • A copy of the decision concerning the determination of the degree of severity of disability, if there is a child in the household with a moderate, severe or profound disability.
  • A certificate of an educational institution, if there is a child of 20 to 21 years of age in the household, who is a pupil or student.
  • Certificate on the determination of incapacity for work, if there is a child over 19 years of age or a parent of the applicant who has a permanent incapacity for work or has no work ability.
  • Decision on being designated a foster parent or guardian, if this information is not visible in the population register.
  • Description and photos of a dwelling, if the applicant or his/her child of up to 15 years of age owns immovable property not qualifying as a dwelling (depreciated apartment or house) or a certificate of a local government confirming that this is an immovable that does not qualify as a dwelling.
  • Certificate issued by a debt collector for certifying the real balance of debt(s), if the applicant, who is the owner of the dwelling, owes according to Creditinfo more than EUR 1500 and there is a contradiction between the debt information of Creditinfo and real debt, which may have an effect on declaring the applicant eligible. Certifying the balance of debt is necessary only if no enforcement proceedings have been commenced for the collection of debt.
  • Notarial agreement on the conditions of use if the dwelling serving as the object of the project is in common ownership and the support is to be used for the improvement of the dwelling in the sole use of the applicant’s household. If there is no agreement on the conditions of use, an unattested agreement on conditions of use, signed between the co-owners together with the plan must be submitted when applying. To ensure that the right to disbursement of the support is created for the applicant after the support has been allocated, a notarised agreement on the conditions of use of the dwelling must be established.

Take a look at the frequently asked questions here.

Non-conformity with the requirements

If the applicant does not conform to one or several of the requirements set out in §10 of the regulation and such deficiencies cannot be eliminated (e.g. the limit of taxable income per household member in one month exceeds EUR 450, the term of the residence permit or right of residence is shorter than the term of fulfilment of the obligations of the applicant and the recipient of support; a court judgment on initiating bankruptcy proceedings or declaring the applicant bankrupt has entered into force), submission of an application is not relevant. Upon identifying deficiencies, KredEx will reject such an application.

Read more from subsection 15 (1) of the regulation here.

If KredEx receives an application, during the processing of which it appears that there is a non-conformity with the requirements set for the application or applicant, which can be eliminated by the term (e.g. the household has no common registration of residence in the population register; there is no comparative price quote), KredEx will notify the applicant of the identified deficiency by e-mail. To eliminate the deficiency, KredEx will give the applicant a term of up to ten days as of the day on which notification of the deficiency took place.

Application and disbursement

You may choose the channel for submitting the application and the supporting documents to KredEx:

  1. in the e-service environment, digitally signed (web forms are available in the e-service environment);
  2. by e-mail (at [email protected]), digitally signed;
  3. by registered mail (to Ettevõtluse ja Innovatsiooni Sihtasutus, Sepise 7, 11415, Tallinn, keyword “Kodutoetus” (Home Support).

The forms, necessary for submitting the application by e-mail or post are available here.

Please note!

  • You may not submit the application simultaneously via several channels.
  • KredEx will not accept applications at their office.

Submit the application by the term. The date of sending the application to KredEx may not be earlier than the starting date of the application round.

If you submit the application by

  • e-mail, the e-mail must reach KredEx by 23:59 on the final date of the application round;
  • registered mail, the letter must be posted on the final date of the application round, at the latest.

NB! If your household includes two parents (or one parent and his/her partner), you must submit a joint application and you will be treated as co-applicants. Therefore, make sure to

  1. enter the details of both applicants in the application,
  2. submit together with the application the tax certificates of both applicants for the year 2022,
  3. if you work abroad, add the income tax return received from the tax authority of the respective foreign country
  4. co-sign the application.

Please note!

  • Enter valid contact details (phone, e-mail, actual place of residence) in the application, at which you can be contacted and through which KredEx can communicate with you.
  • Formalise the application correctly and legibly. Preferred pen colour is blue.
  • Submit all documents required for application (application and supporting documents) at the same time.
  • If during processing the application by KredEx, it appears that some document needs to be changed or is missing, we will notify you thereof by e-mail (if not available, by post).

KredEx will receive all applications submitted during the application round, shall process their form and content and assess them based on the evaluation system in the “Guidelines on the evaluation of applications” in the annex of the regulation. This way we can identify the families who need the support the most.

You may read the Guidelines on the evaluation of applications here.

If you submitted the application in the KredEx e-service environment or by e-mail, you will receive an auto-response at the e-mail address indicated in the application about the receipt of the application by KredEx.

NB! If you do not receive such an auto-response via your e-mail, please consider that submission of the application failed. In this case, please re-submit the application.

If you sent the application by registered mail, you can track the journey of the letter and its receipt by KredEx at www.omniva.ee. We will provide you with feedback by e-mail after a preliminary review of your application. The waiting time depends on the number of applications received.

1. Formal processing of applications

All applications received by the deadline are registered at KredEx and processed first for conformity to formal requirements. This means that we assess the conformity of the project and the applicant to the requirements of the regulation and the eligibility of project costs.

In the course of the formal evaluation, KredEx may request from the applicant:

  • additional information and explanations about the data presented in the application, or
  • supplementation or amendment of the application.

For that, the applicant is provided a term of up to ten working days. If the applicant does not submit the requested additional information, explanations and/or supporting documents within this term or cannot be reached at the contacts provided in the application, KredEx shall declare the application as non-conforming and shall reject it.

We notify the applicants of the results of the formal processing of the applications by e-mail (if not available, by post).

All applications that have met the formal requirements (application conditions) shall be sent for substantive evaluation. This means an evaluation by the local government (if necessary), an on-the-spot inspection visit and, finally, formation of an evaluation committee.

2. Requesting an evaluation from the local government

For applications, submitted by single parents and declared to be in conformity with the requirements, KredEx shall ask the local government of the residence of the applicant for an evaluation regarding the number of members in the applicant’s household. Read more from subsection 14 (2) of the regulation here.

3. On-the-spot inspection visit for a dwelling (home visit)

If the application is declared to be in conformity with the formal requirements, a support manager from KredEx shall carry out an on-the-spot inspection visit of the dwelling (home visit) where the project activities are to be carried out and which is in the ownership of the applicant of his/her child of up to 15 years of age.

The purpose of the on-the-spot inspection visit is to assess the living conditions and the situation of the household.

The support manager shall inform the applicant of an on-the-spot inspection visit by phone or e-mail about three working days in advance.

If the support is requested for remodelling or renovating an uninhabitable dwelling; however, in addition to the dwelling related to the supported activity, the applicant also owns another apartment, house, part of a house, etc. (where the applicant, his/her parent or tenant or another person lives), the on-the-spot inspection visits are carried out in both dwellings.

If the applicant only owns an uninhabitable dwelling and lives in a rented accommodation, the on-the-spot inspection visit will be carried out only in the dwelling owned by the applicant.

During the on-the-spot inspection visit, the support manager shall take photos of all rooms, including of their deficiencies and shall fill in the on-the-spot inspection visit report, describing the condition and deficiencies of the dwelling. This information is necessary for obtaining a score for the sub-criterion of conditions and the situation of the dwelling, which forms 40% of the overall score.

The score will be given by the evaluation committee based on clause 5 of the annex to the regulation “Guidelines on the evaluation of applications“. You may read the “Guidelines on the evaluation of applications” here.

The on-the-spot inspection visit is not carried out, if:

  • the support is being requested for purchasing a dwelling and the applicant or his/her child of up to 15 years of age do not own a dwelling;
  • KredEx has carried out an on-the-spot inspection visit of the same dwelling in 2022 in association with construction related activities and, based on the photos submitted with the 2023 application, there is reason to believe that the situation has not changed;
  • the construction of a dwelling subject to the application has not yet started (the lot is empty).

4. Evaluation of applications

KredEx shall evaluate all applications that have been declared compliant and shall calculate an overall score based on five criteria (see the below table).

  • We evaluate criteria No. 1–4 based on the information presented in the application.
  • Criterion No. 5 is evaluated by the evaluation committee, who will consider the information presented in the application as well as the supporting information (if necessary), collected by the support manager during the on-the-spot inspection visit.

To find the overall score of application we will add up the score for each criterion (15) and the product of the share.

The highest possible overall score is 3 points. In order to receive such a score, all sub-criteria must have received the maximum possible points. We evaluate the application of each household based on the following criteria and their share.

Tabel 1

 

The basis for the evaluation is the annex to the regulation “Guidelines on the evaluation of applications”. The guidelines are available here.

Example of application evaluation

The application was submitted by a household comprised of five members with two parents (or one parent and his/her partner) and three children (no children with disability). Average taxable income of the household in 2022 per month was EUR 1250 (accordingly, EUR 250 per household member in one month). The size of the current dwelling is 60 m2. The application corresponds to the objective established by the regulation.

Tabel 2

 

5. Approval or denial of applications

Large families are in great need of Home Support. Therefore, the volume of submitted applications has mostly been higher than the amount allocated by the state to KredEx for supporting the families. This is why it has not always been possible to approve all applications that have been declared compliant.

After we have finished the evaluation of all applications in the 2023 application round, we will rank the applications based on their overall score.

KredEx approves applications,

  • starting from the application with the highest overall score and
  • ending with the application that has the lowest overall score, for the approval of which there is still money left from the funds allocated to the application round.

Accordingly, the approval of your application depends on

1) the overall score of your application,

2) the overall score of the remaining applications submitted in this application round,

3) the amount allocated by the state for this application round.

This is why it is not possible to tell you before compiling the final ranking whether we can approve your application. However, it is clear that the poorer the condition of a household’s dwelling, the greater the likelihood for receiving support, as the overall score for the application will be higher.

Read more about the approval of applications, secondary condition and partial approval here.

The term for processing the applications is up to 235 working days as from the closing of the application round.

During this time KredEx:

  1. evaluates the form and content of the applications,
  2. carries out an on-the-spot inspection visit, if necessary,
  3. if necessary, asks for an opinion from the local government regarding the number of household members of an applicant who is a single parent,
  4. assesses the applications at the evaluation committee,
  5. decides on the approval or denial of the applications.

We will send you the decision on the approval or denial of the application in writing via KredEx e-service (or by post) within ten working days as of making the decision.

If your application is approved, the notification will also contain information on the disbursement of support.

For partial or full payment of the support, submit a disbursement application to KredEx together with the required documents.

  • Support for construction-related activities – disbursement instructions and document forms are available here.
  • Support for purchasing a dwelling – disbursement instructions and document forms are available here.

Contact us

Anu Holmberg

Anu Holmberg

Client Manager

anu.holmberg [at] kredex.ee

Kersti Saar

Private Grant Service Owner

kersti.saar [at] kredex.ee
Aire Oolup

Aire Oolup

Client Manager

aire.oolup [at] kredex.ee