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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-11 |
2 December 2021 |
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1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)
H46-11 Statileo group v. Croatia (Application No. 12027/10) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference document |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that these cases concern statutory limitations on the landlords’ use of flats subject to protected leases and that the European Court identified three main shortcomings in legislation, namely the inadequate level of protected rent, restrictive conditions for the termination of protected leases and the absence of any temporal limitation to the protected lease scheme;
As regards individual measures
2. pending the adoption of the legislation aiming to eliminate the effects of protected leases, invited the authorities to rapidly provide information on:
- as regards Gošović, the domestic court’s decision following the applicant’s request for reopening of the impugned proceedings, including information on any other subsequently initiated proceedings;
- as regards Bego and Others, the outcome of the pending civil proceedings regarding tenants’ eviction and the proceedings pending before the Constitutional Court ;
As regards general measures
3. recalled that in July 2018 Parliament adopted amendments to the Lease of Flats Act aimed at addressing the shortcomings identified by the European Court in respect of the protected lease scheme, enabling individuals in the applicants’ situation to repossess their flats by September 2023 at the latest;
4. in view of the significant number of landlords in a situation similar to that of the applicants, noted with profound concern that the progress made with the above amendments has stalled given their invalidation by the Constitutional Court in September 2020;
5. while noting the steps taken by the authorities with a view to preparing new draft legislation, recalled with concern that more than seven years have passed since the first judgment delivered by the Court in the group Statileo, and urged the authorities to finalise the legislative process as a matter of priority in order to eliminate the effects of the impugned protection lease scheme
6. pending the adoption of a global legislative solution to the protected lease scheme, welcomed the change of the domestic case-law providing greater protection to landlords’ property rights through taking into account other lessees’ properties when deciding whether to allow them benefits under the protected lease scheme;
7. noted with interest information on the introduction and the application of a compensatory remedy enabling the landlords to claim compensation covering the difference between the protected rent and the market rent; invited the authorities to keep the Committee informed about further developments of the domestic case-law;
8. encouraged the authorities to cooperate closely with the Secretariat with a view to ensuring that the new legislative amendments are Convention-compliant and invited them to regularly provide information on all the above issues and by 31 March 2022 at the latest.