Money’s tight these days, so who wouldn’t want an extra few grand any way they can get it?
Cut down on sandwiches? Fine. Travel from Newcastle to London via Spain? Sure, if it saves you a bit of cash. Up sticks and move your entire family to Switzerland at short notice? Well, now that you mention it…
The village of Albinen, in the Swiss Alps, is so keen for families to move to the area that it is considering offering cash incentives of upwards of £50,000.
Bit nicer than Deptford isn’t it?
According to The Local, the end of this month will see lawmakers vote on a new policy aimed at increasing the population of the idyllic village from its current number of just 240.
As a result, children who still live in the village have to go to neighbouring towns for their education after the nearest school was shut down.
So yes, you’ll get picturesque surroundings along with the cash bonus, but you’ll probably need to drive half an hour to one of the nearby towns for work.
If the policy passes, a reward of up to CHF70,000 (just over £53,000) will be handed out to families moving to Albinen, in an effort to up the number of permanent residents after an increasing number of locals began leaving for the city.
The breakdown is as follows: CHF25,000 for single people, CHF50,000 for couples and an extra CHF10,000 per child who is already born, or who is born within 10 years of them moving there.
Yes, this is definitely nicer than Hull
However, the Albinen newsletter explains ‘There are strict guard rails and clear rules that guarantee the appropriate use of funds and exclude any abuse,’ just in case you were thinking this all sounded too good to be true:
1. You need to be aged 45 or under
2. You need to buy or build a property worth CHF200,000, and use it as a permanent home
3. You have to stay for at least 10 years, or pay back the initial CHF70,000
‘You ask yourself: Can do we stay in the village or do we have to move away as well?’ the newsletter reads.
‘The community cannot stand idly by as our village dies out’.
See you on the next plane.
(Images: Wikimedia Commons)
