Russian citizens in arrears could lose Estonian property

TALLINN. Sept 2 (Interfax) - The Russians who own a property in Estonia could lose it if unable to manage it because of the Estonian sanctions, the Estonian Interior Ministry's Undersecretary Veiko Kommusaar said.

"People buying houses in other countries should calculate in advance if they will always be able to have access to that property. Yes, doing bank transfers now is a complicated matter. If there is a person or a firm ready to look after that property, I think there is a way of agreeing on the deferral of payments," Kommusaar told the ERR news website on Friday.

Russian citizens own 41,351 properties in Estonia, he said. Most of the owners have a permanent residence permit, but about 4,500 need a visa to enter the country and they risk having no one to look after the property because of the visa ban, the official said.

Because the restrictions have only been in place for three weeks, it is too soon to say if someone will lose their property tomorrow, he said.

"If someone really ends up in a situation where they cannot manage their property and run a debt, in the worst-case the apartment could be sold to pay off the debt," Kommusaar said.

On August 29 Komusaar said that an owner unable to find ways of maintaining their property, then "we, at this point, do not presume that Estonia should be taking some mitigating steps here."