Choose a lawyer specialized in obtaining compensation from the National Authority for Property Restitution
The process of restoration of the property rights was affected by numerous delaying attempts from the Romanian State authorities, materialized both by the successive legislative amendments and by the incapacity of the responsible authorities and officials who did not respect the deadlines provided by the law.
These numerous legislative changes, but also the legislator’s omission to regulate in detail the compensation process, has determined a non-uniform practice at the level of the courts, which is why your success in obtaining compensation in the amount you deserve and in a reasonable time is conditional on obtaining assistance from a lawyer specialized in ANRP compensation.
Brisc Horațiu, the titular lawyer of the office, is a lawyer specialized in ANRP compensation. Within the office, we can provide you with legal assistance to determine the current situation of your case and the steps to follow to obtain the best results, both regarding the compensation amount and for reducing the waiting time. The consultation needed to determine the status of your case is free. After we determine the strategy to follow for the success of your case, we will establish a way of collaboration, which is flexible, depending on the situation of each individual case.
In the following material, we will present the different stages in which a compensation case can be found and the potential solutions to follow to maximize the chances of success. Of course, the customized consultation will be carried out after obtaining the information and documents specific to the person and the file in question.
Scenario I – The competent entities at the local level have not resolved the restitution requests
It will be necessary to submit a court request against the entity that is competent at the local level to resolve the restitution notification, with the object of obliging them to issue a decision proposing restoration measures and obliging them to submit the file directly to the National Commission for Real Estate Compensation. During this litigation, the court must also establish the claimant’s status as a entitled person, so that the legality control from the Prefecture will no longer be required.
In order to enforce the court decision and to ensure that the debtor authority complies as soon as possible, the enforcement procedure will be initiated by applying penalties.
Scenario II – The file is registered at the level of the National Authority for Property Restitution
For files in which the deadline for administrative solving has been exceeded (60 months from registration, with the exception of agricultural land files that must be resolved within 36 months), it will be necessary to file a court claim against the National Commission for Real Estate Compensation, with the object of obliging the authority to issued the compensation decision. Within this procedure, the court will verify the fulfillment of the conditions required to obtain compensation and will determine the amount to be granted. Depending of the characteristic of the file, it may be required to carry out a judicial technical expertise, either a topographic one to determine the location of the land or other attributes, or an evaluation expertise to correctly determine the amount of the compensation.
For files in which the deadline for administrative solving has not been exceeded, a court challenge may be filed with the object of obliging the authority to resolve the file with priority if you are in one of the situations provided by art. 34 para. (5) of Law no. 165/2013: a) files where additional documents were requested; b) files in which a court already established the existence and extent of the right, as well as the status of entitled person; c) files established on the basis of requests made by Holocaust survivors, which were alive at 17.05.2013; d)files in which decisions were issued with the proposal to grant compensation/compensatory measures to religious cults and communities of citizens belonging to national minorities in Romania; e)files in which the beneficiaries are persons who hold certificates of classification in the degree of severe disability or have the status of disability pensioners classified in the first degree of disability. Of course, people who have a file number with a registration number lower than the one listed as the current solving order will also be able to address the court.
Compensation amount
Through the amendments made to Law no. 165/2013 regarding the measures to complete the restitution process, in kind or by equivalent, of the properties taken over abusively during the communist regime in Romania, the disadvantageous way of evaluating used until recently was modified, currently being carried out in the case of former owners or their heirs by using the market study used by public notaries valid for the year preceding the issuance of the decision by the National Commission.
It is important to underline that art. 21 para. (6) of Law no. 165/2013 explicitly states that the evaluation is done taking into account the technical characteristics of the property and the category of use at the date of its takeover or confiscation by the communist regime. This will be extremely important in the case of the agricultural land that was taken over in the process of forming the communist land cooperatives and which was outside the build-up areas but which currently is situated inside the build-up areas. By applying the letter of the law, the evaluation will be done by classifying the land as extra-urban which will result in a derisory evaluation in comparison with the current market value of that land.
For this type of scenarios, it is important to acknowledge that on the 8th of November 2022 the European Court of Human Rights issue its decision in the case of Valeanu and others c. Romania by which it condemned Romania due to the failure of the authorities to ensure that the compensation awarded is reasonably correlated with the current value of the property. This automatically translates to the obligation of the national courts to exclude from application the current form of art. 21 para (6) of Law no. 165/2013 when this mechanism determines a derisory evaluation in comparison with the current market value of the property, with the consequence of taking into account the technical characteristics of the property and the category of use at the valuation date.
Scenario III – Issuance of an invalidation Decision or issuance of a compensation Decision in which the compensation was unlawfully reduced
Decisions issued in violation of the law (invalidation or illegal reduction of the amount of compensation) must be challenged within 30 days from the date of communication of the decision.
Thus, it is imperative that the entitled persons contact a lawyer specialized in ANRP compensation as soon as possible.
The previous observations regarding the compensation amount will also be relevant in this type of litigation. If necessary, approaches will be made to the competent authorities (National Archives, Cadastre and Land Registration Office, local authorities, etc.) to obtain relevant documents in order to maximize compensation. Of course, it will be possible to request and carry out including a technical expertise specializing in topography to correctly determine the old location, to the extent that the administrative file does not contain sufficient details in this regard.
In this type of litigation, with the object of canceling the illegal decision and forcing the authority to issue a new decision, it will be possible to carry out a technical expertise specializing in real estate evaluation in order to objectively determine the correct value of the compensation. If necessary, further information and documents will be requested from the competent authorities (National Archives, Land Registry Office, local authorities, etc.) in order to exactly determine the old location of the property and its characteristics. Of course, it will be possible to request and carry out a technical expertise in topography or valuation.
Summary – steps to follow to obtain the assistance for your ANRP compensation file
- Contact us to schedule a free in-office or online analysis session
- Prepare some minimal information and documents. We will ask you for any other information we need
- Based on the information and documents submitted, we will establish a successful strategy to follow
Everything is free up to this point and is done under the duty of confidentiality
- Establishing the way of collaboration (flexible fees depending on the situation of each file)
- Starting and effectuating administrative and litigious proceedings
- We will keep you informed through e-mails and briefing meetings
Go through the case studies in which we obtained favorable judgments in disputes regarding ANRP compensations:
- We obtained at the Cluj Court Tribunal an increase in compensation from 64,600 points to 525,000 points – see here
- We obtained the coercion of the C.N.C.I. authority to prioritize the solving of the administrative file formed on the basis of Law no. 10/2001 – see here