Principle

¹ Within the limits of the appropriations available to it, the Confederation provides financial support for the measures taken by the cantons to improve housing in mountain regions.

² Financial assistance is provided for works that provide healthy living conditions for families and people with modest resources.

³ The Confederation provides financial assistance even if improved or additional housing is not occupied by a family or people with modest resources only at the time of construction.

Delimitation of mountain regions

¹ The delimitation of mountain regions is carried out according to the cadastre of agricultural production.

² Urban communes or parts thereof shall not be included in mountain regions within the meaning of this Law. ¹

Works giving the right to grant

¹ In particular, financial assistance is provided for:

A.

The rehabilitation of housing which does not meet the requirements of the competent authorities in the field of public health or construction;

B.

Improvement of housing by

-

Water and energy supply; subsidies provided under other federal provisions must be considered,

-

The development of sanitary facilities,

-

Increasing the number of living rooms, having regard to the size of the family;

C.

The development of accommodation in unused buildings;

D.

New construction that replaces housing whose improvement cannot be undertaken because of its cost and the insufficient result it would have;

E. ¹

Additional construction comprising two or more units, where the structures of the main building or the foreseeable cost of the work do not permit the expansion of existing living conditions;

F. ²

The acquisition of all or part of buildings, if the acquisition is more judicious than the new or complementary construction.

² Do not receive financial assistance:

A.

Routine maintenance and repair work;

B.

The improvement of housing already receiving financial assistance in accordance with the requirements for granting subsidies for land improvements and rural buildings, to the extent that such aid is granted; except for appropriations Investments granted in accordance with the Federal Act of 23 March 1962 on investment appropriations in agriculture and assistance to farmers ³ ;

C.

New constructions where the living space per dwelling is not sufficient or in which the layout does not reach a certain degree;

D. ⁴

Projects for which, taking into account the intended assistance, the expenses of the owners or rents are not in a reasonable relationship with the income and capital of the occupants;

E.

Projects expected to be funded at interest rates in excess of the usual rates;

F. ⁵

Remediation projects involving a residential unit that has been eligible for a grant in a new construction (s. 1, let. (d).

Grant of grants

The Federal Assembly sets in the budget the maximum amount of grants that may be allocated during the fiscal year.

Construction Requirements

The Confederation provides financial assistance only if the work meets the requirements of land use planning, the protection of nature and the landscape and environmental protection.

Amount of federal grant

¹ Financial assistance is, according to the canton's financial capacity, 10 to 30 per cent of the costs that can be taken into account. In special cases, these percentages can be reduced. ¹

² Consideration shall be given to the overall costs of construction, including taxes; on the other hand, the interest, the costs of acquiring the land and the allowances that would be payable to third parties are excluded. The work carried out by the owner of the work and its supplies shall be counted according to local rates.

³ The granting of financial aid may be subject to proof that the financing of the costs not covered by this aid is provided, taking into account the owner's own benefits.

Increased financial assistance

Depending on the financial capacity of the canton, financial aid may be increased from 5 % to 15 % of the costs which may be taken into account if, in spite of the ordinary financial aid of the Confederation and the canton, the work on improving housing Impose an excessive burden on the applicant.

Cantonal Delivery

¹ Financial assistance is subject to the provision of the township where the housing is to be improved.

² The provision of the canton is determined by the cantonal law within the limits of this Law.

Cantonal Benefits Amount

¹ The provision of the canton must be such that, added to the financial aid, 50 % of the costs, which can be taken into account in the cases provided for in Art. 5, and 75 % in those provided for in s. 6 be covered.

² Where the percentage of financial assistance is reduced in a particular case (art. 5, para. 1), the Township may reduce its benefit to the same extent.

³ The canton may make its provision subject to the condition that the municipality takes part in it.

Third Party Benefits

¹ The benefits of the municipalities and, provided that they themselves are not the masters of the work, the benefits of other cantons, communities of public law, employers, foundations or institutions of public utility may be charged on The amount of the cantonal contribution provided for in s. 7; however, they may only replace the contribution of the canton to a maximum of four-fifths. The canton replies to the Confederation and the master of the work of the contribution of the third party benefits to be charged. ¹

² Third party benefits, as defined in para. 1, will be charged on the amount of the Cantonal Benefit only if the third party allows the federal and cantonal audit bodies at all times to verify, as they appear to be, whether its performance has actually been provided and if it has not been Returned later.

Cantonal Delivery Character

¹ The cantons and municipalities, as well as other communities governed by public law, may contribute otherwise than by way of subsidies for lost funds; their benefits may, for example, be made in the form of reduced interest loans Or in kind, provided that they are equivalent to a cash contribution.

² All third parties referred to in s. 9 may provide benefits in kind instead of cash benefits; they must be independent of those to which the owner of the work is entitled in any case.

Compensation and assignment of claims

¹ The benefits promised by the Confederation cannot be used to compensate for claims against the person who are entitled to them only if they arose under this Act or other federal provisions relating to the encouragement of construction Of housing.

² The right to promised benefits may be assigned only with the written consent of the competent cantonal authority. Such consent may, however, be given only if the assignment is for the purpose of securing a debt which is the result of improvements giving the right to grant or the delivery of materials necessary for such work or the execution of a new Construction.

Transfer

Financial assistance promised or already allocated under this Act may not be carried over to other units. However, the financial assistance promised or allocated in favour of housing destroyed by fire or by natural features may be postponed on new construction intended to replace such housing, provided that the conditions to which it is Financial assistance is still being carried out.

Maintenance of the destination; obligation to reimburse

¹ If the preconditions on which the promise of financial assistance depends, as well as the obligations to which it is linked are not fulfilled or are imperfect, the amount pledged may be reduced or the promise withdrawn. Benefits already provided will have to be repaid in whole or in part.

² Where, within twenty years of the payment of grants (in the case of payment by instalments, from the final payment), an object in favour of which financial assistance has been paid is diverted from its primary destination or the building is With profit, the benefits of the Confederation will have to be repaid in whole or in part. The full or partial reimbursement of benefits may also be required when the financial situation of the recipient of the financial assistance has improved to a very large extent and probably on a sustainable basis. There is no diversion of the primary destination when unoccupied parts are temporarily rented with the consent of the canton. ¹

³ At the request of the competent cantonal authority, the obligation to repay shall be mentioned in the Land Register as a restriction of public law brought to the property.

⁴ A transfer of ownership may not be entered in the land register within 20 years of the payment of the grants (in the case of payment by instalments, from the final payment) only if the owner produces a written declaration of The competent cantonal and federal authority authorising the transfer or cancellation of the mention. ²

⁵ If the township requires that the rebate to which it is entitled is secured by a mortgage or if it creates a legal mortgage within the meaning of s. 836 of the Swiss Civil Code ³ , this guarantee must extend to the refund to which the Confederation is entitled.

⁶ The competent federal authority shall rule on disputes relating to the return of federal subsidies. The action of administrative law provided for in Art. 116, let. A, of the Federal Law of Judicial Organisation, of 16 December 1943 ⁴ For disputes between the Confederation and the cantons. ⁵

Limitation period

¹ The right of repetition provided for in Art. 13, para. 1 and 2 shall be prescribed by one year from the day on which the competent cantonal authority has been informed of the claim of the Confederation, but in all cases by ten years from the date of the birth of that right. However, if the claim is the result of an unlawful act subject to a longer-term limitation period, it is decisive.

² Any act of recovery interrupts the limitation period; it does not run until it is possible to sue the debtor in Switzerland.

Legal lien of craftsmen

A. In general

¹ Artisans, contractors, suppliers and architects who have carried out works of improvement or new constructions giving the right to grant, or who have supplied the materials necessary for this work, have, as a guarantee of their claim against The owner of the building or an entrepreneur, a legal lien on the cash grant that the federal authorities have decided to allocate to the owner of the work.

² The lien extends only to the part of a grant in cash to which the owner of the work can claim according to the state of progress of the work and which has not yet been paid. This part is definitively fixed by the cantonal authority.

³ The right of pledge arises at the time when the grant is promised; it is extinguished when it is paid to the owner of the work, his representative or an assignee.

⁴ Where the owner of the work has assigned as security on advances in the right to cash grants arising from the promise of financial assistance, the assignee may also invoke a lien, provided that the advances have been used to pay Claims arising from the performance of work giving the right to grant, or the delivery of necessary materials to the work, as well as to a new construction.

⁵ The right to require the registration of a legal mortgage within the meaning of s. 837, c. 3, Swiss Civil Code ¹ , is not affected in any way by the security right provided for in paras. 1 to 4.

B. Rank of the right of pledge

Where a number of security rights under s. 15, para. 1 to 4, are invoked in due time, their holders concur with each other in equal rights irrespective of the date of the claim or the date on which the right of pledge has been invoked.

Obligation to inform

¹ Recipients of financial assistance are required to provide the relevant federal, cantonal and municipal authorities with any information required for the purpose of this assistance. Upon request, they shall allow such authorities to consult the books, accounts and documents relating thereto. The obligation to provide information extends to all those who have participated in or participate in the preparation of plans, financing, execution, administration of the work or the management of the building coming into account.

² If an information is not given, or if parts are not produced, the promise or payment of the financial assistance may be refused and the benefits already paid will be refunded. Artisans, contractors, suppliers, architects and other persons who have participated in the works or supplies of materials may be excluded from participation in other works or deliveries benefiting from the aid of the Confederation Or the award of orders.

³ Art. 292 of the Swiss Penal Code ¹ Is reserved.

False information, concealating facts

¹ The person who induces or attempts to mislead the authorities by false information or by concealing facts shall be deprived of federal assistance under this Act or other federal provisions relating to the construction of Subsidized housing. Artisans, contractors, architects and other persons who have induced or attempted to mislead the authorities will be excluded from participation in other work carried out in the context of measures to improve housing and Encouraging the construction of housing.

² The criminal prosecution is reserved.

Control

¹ The cantons will monitor the implementation of federal requirements and ensure that the conditions for the granting of financial assistance are met.

² The right of supervision and control of the Confederation is reserved.

Time limit for allocating financial aid

The financial aid granted under this Law may be granted until the entry into force of the Federal Decree of 3 October 2003 concerning the reform of the financial equalization and the division of labour between the Confederation And the cantons ² .

Executing

¹ The Federal Council shall be responsible for enforcement and shall lay down the provisions necessary for this purpose. It may delegate its powers to the Federal Department of Economics, Training and Research (DEFR) ¹ .

² The cantons shall lay down the requirements of application within the limits of federal law. They communicate them to DEFR. ²

³ To ^{5 3}

Entry into force

The Federal Council shall fix the date of entry into force of this Law.