Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 89
September 2006
Urbárska Obec Trenčianske Biskupice v. Slovakia (dec.) - 74258/01
Decision 12.9.2006 [Section IV]
Article 1 of Protocol No. 1
Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1
Deprivation of property
Compulsory lease of agricultural land and subsequent transfer of land ownership to tenants: admissible
The applicants are a community of land owners and its vice president. Under the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia owners of land were in most cases obliged to put it at the disposal of State-owned or co-operative agricultural farms or, as in the applicant’s case, of garden colonies consisting of individual gardeners. They formally remained owners of the land but had no practical possibility of availing themselves of that property. In the context of Czechoslovakia’s transition to a market-oriented economy following the fall of the communist regime, the Parliament adopted, in 1991 and 1997, legislation which provided for compulsory lease of land by private owners to members of garden colonies. The tenants became entitled to acquire ownership of the land in question, whereas the owners obtained the right to claim either different land of a comparable surface area and quality or pecuniary compensation.
In 1999, the garden colony exploiting the applicants’ land obtained transfer of ownership to the individual gardeners. The applicants’ appeals were dismissed. In 2002, the applicant community received about 1,4 hectares of different land in compensation for their original plot amounting to more than 2,5 hectares. The authorities considered that though the surface of the compensatory land had been smaller, it had been an arable land of high quality and therefore it had had a higher value. However, while determining this compensation, the authorities took into account the value of the applicants’ original land as of the date when the garden colony had first occupied it. At that time, the land in question was devastated. In 2005, at the Government’s request, an expert valued both plots of land as on the date of the deal in 2002. According to him, the estimated value of the land in possession of the garden colony amounted to more than 1,000 Slovak korunas (SKK) per square meter, while as that of the compensatory land given to the applicants amounted only to some 100 SKK per square meter.
Admissible as regards the community of land owners, both in respect of the compulsory lease of land and its subsequent transfer to members of the garden colony.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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