How a Romanian lawyer specialized in property recovery can help you in restitution of property in Romania
Tens of thousands of Romanian landowners who have to recover a property from the Romanian state will be able to take court actions next year to recover their buildings that were abusively taken over during the communist era in Romania. A Romanian lawyer specialized in restitution of properties can handle the documentation required to recover the property from the Romanian state. At the same time, former owners who are represented by a Romanian lawyer specialized in recovery of properties are more likely to be successful in court, recommends lawyers at Pavel, Margarit & Associates Romanian Law Firm.
The present article shows the provisions of the Romanian Restitution of Property Law on the measures for completing the restitution process, as well as the stage of retrocession of immovable property in Romania. This is the summary of a larger study entitled “Selective aspects regarding the restitution of property in Romania” presented by Radu Pavel, Managing Partner of Pavel, Margarit & Associates Romanian Law Firm, at the conference “Trends and Challenges in the Process Restitution of Property in Romania”, organized by Legal Magazin Magazine, a prestigious juridical publication in Romania.
In 2013, in Romania was adopted Law no. 165 on measures to complete the process of restitution of buildings abusively taken over during the communist regime in Romania.
This law stipulates, in Article 1, the principle of restitution of buildings abusively taken over during the communist regime.
Given the impossibility of restitution in nature of these buildings, the new law provides compensatory measures in equivalent, namely:
– compensation with goods offered in equivalent;
– point compensation.
The innovation brought about by this law is the point measure.
Thus, it is stipulated that when claims for restitution in Romania cannot be resolved by restitution in nature the entities invested by the law must solve the case by granting compensatory measures in points.
The point allocation system is provided by Law 165/2013 in Article 21.Thus, the valuation of the building is carried out by applying the notarial scale valid on the date of entry into force of Law 165/2013, taking into account the technical characteristics of the building, and is expressed in points. One point is the equivalent of 1 Ron, aprox. 0,25 Euro.
It is further stated that:
a) if, by means of documents existing in the file, the location or technical characteristics of the building for which damages are established cannot be established, the assessment shall be made by applying the minimum value for the area or category of property provided by the notarial scale for the locality, according to the above-mentioned provisions.
b) if, by means of documents existing in the file, the architectural area and / or description of the constructions for which compensation cannot be established, compensatory measures shall be granted for a useful floor area of 21 sqm. The assessment shall be made by applying the minimum value for the area provided by the notarial scale applicable to that locality.
Within three years of the issuance of the clearing decision, the holder of the points may request their capitalization in cash. For decisions issued before 1 January 2017, the term shall begin to run from that date.
At the request of the point owner, the Romanian National Authority for Restitution of Properties issues, for 5 consecutive years, payment titles in equal annual installments, within the limit set by the clearing decision. Payment titles are issued in the chronological order of issuance of clearing decisions.
The amount of a tranche may not be less than 20,000 RON (aprox. 4.350 Euro), provided that the amount thus granted does not exceed the total of the established damages.
Presentation of deadlines established by Romanian law of restitution of a property in
Law 165/2013 establishes distinct deadlines for the settlement of claims made under Law 10/2001, one of the first laws of restitution of a property in Romania, according to the number of files that each entity invested by law is called upon to settle, as follows:
a) within 12 months, the entities invested by the law, which have to solve up to 2,500 requests;
b) within 24 months, the entities invested by the law that have to settle between 2,500 and 5,000 applications;
c) within 36 months, the entities invested by the law which have more than 5,000 requests to settle.
These deadlines are due from 1 January 2014.
Records filed at the Romanian Secretariat of the Central Compensation Commission will be resolved within 60 months of the law’s entry into force, except for land files that will be settled within 36 months.
The law establishes that the files are settled in the order of their registration with the Romanian Secretariat of the Central Commission for Settlement of Damages, respectively the Secretariat of the National Commission.
Among the priority cases we mention:
a) the files in which the Secretariat of the National Commission requested documents;
b) files in which, by irrevocable / final court judgments, the courts have ruled on the existence and extent of the right, as well as the rightful person.
Status of refunds
At present, four years after the entry into force of Law 165/2013 of restitution of a property in Romania, several city halls in the country have unsolved hundreds, thousands and even tens of thousands of real estate restitution of property notification based on Law 10/2001. Most of them are registered in Bucharest and Constanta, two big cities in Romania, according to statistics presented by Radu Pavel, Managing Partner of Pavel, Margarit and Associates Romanian Law Firm, at the conference “Trends and challenges in the process of restitution of properties in Romania” organized by Legal Magazin Review.
The first place in this top is occupied by the Bucharest City Hall, with 24,142 unresolved files. The second place is occupied by Constanţa City Hall, with 3,171 files, and the third is the Arad City Hall, with 892 unresolved notifications. Most of these files are in various stages of settlement at the Romanian National Authority for Restitution of Properties. The deadline for Law No. 165/2013 of restitution of a property in Romania to resolve about 30,000 cases is May 2018. Starting this month, files may be taken by courts to obtain a judicial settlement.
Former owners who have to recover a property in Romania must address Romanian lawyers specialized in restitution in order to increase their chances of success. A lawsuit against the Romanian state for the restitution of immovable property may take years in court. With the help of a Romanian lawyer who has years of practice in the area of ‹‹restitution, the chances for a trial to end as quickly as possible are high, say lawyers at Pavel, Margarit and Associates Romanian Law Firm.
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Pavel, Margarit & Associates Romanian Law Firm is one of the top law firms in Romania, which offers legal services at the highest quality, beyond clients expectations. The Law Firm approaches the cases with maximum professionalism and dedication. Its ultimate goal is obtaining exceptional results and achieving the clients objectives, in a time efficient manner. Among Pavel, Margarit & Associates clients are top multinationals and local companies. In 2017, the success stories of the Romanian Law Firm have brought recognition of the most prestigious international guides and publications. Thus, Pavel, Margarit & Associates Romanian Law Firm ranked second place in Romania in the rankings of business law firms with the most relevant expertise this year, realised by the Legal 500 publication, the most prestigious guide for law firms in the world, based in London, UK. The law firm is also recognized internationally by IFLR 1000 Financial and Corporate Guide 2017. Pavel, Margarit & Associates Romanian Law Firm is also the only law firm in Romania recommended by the Global Law Experts Director in London in the Dispute Resolution area of Practice. All the relevant information regarding Pavel, Margarit & Associates Romanian Law Firm
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