Civil courts in Cluj-Napoca municipality<\/strong> have held that transferring a parcel of land free of charge to the municipality, in order to comply with the street grid imposed by the maps of the new PUG, is void (absolutely null), and that the local authority\u2019s conduct amounts to a de facto expropriation that requires compensating the former owners at the market value of the transferred areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should be emphasized that although this case arises from a specific situation of persons who transferred property parcels free of charge to Cluj municipality, the reasoning developed by the courts can be extended in favor of all those who have donated or waived portions of land in favor of Cluj municipality in order to obtain a building permit. Thus, any companies or persons who have been in this situation \u2014 assisted by a Cluj attorney specialized in expropriations and urbanism \u2014 may obtain a ruling obliging Cluj municipality to grant compensation equivalent to the market value of the parcels transferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the claimants own intravilan parcels in the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca, and in 2016 they began the procedures necessary to obtain the right to build a real estate project on those parcels. From the earliest stage of the authorization process, the Cluj municipality authority informed the claimants that on the maps of the new PUG there was the route of a \u201cpublic utility servitude\u201d over portions of their land, and that the portion affected must be severed and transferred into public ownership of the municipality per Article 24(4) of the Local Urbanism Regulation. This was presented as a condition for approval of the urbanism documentation required to obtain the building permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 24(4) of the RLU associated with the new PUG (approved by HCL 493\/2014, in the form then in force) provided that portions of land burdened by public-utility servitudes under approved urbanistic documentation shall be transferred into public ownership before issuance of the building permit<\/em>. (These provisions were later annulled by courts in favor of individuals in a similar case.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faced with the local norms and the conditions imposed by Cluj municipality to obtain the required approvals, the claimants subdivided their land into two plots and waived, without compensation, an area of 624 sqm<\/strong> in favor of Cluj municipality, by executing notarized declarations renouncing their ownership rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result of that free transfer of ownership, the Cluj Local Council approved acceptance of that parcel into public ownership and approved the urbanism documentation for the remainder of land still held by the claimants, necessary to get the building permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under those circumstances, in mid-2017 the claimants, assisted by a Cluj attorney specializing in urbanism and real estate litigation, filed a civil action in Cluj Tribunal requesting that the tribunal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cluj Tribunal accepted the claimants\u2019 requests and found the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n With respect to the compensation evaluation, a judicial technical expert commission prepared a report concluding that the market value of the disputed 624 sqm is \u20ac121,056<\/strong> (i.e. \u20ac194 per sqm).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accordingly, the Tribunal granted the claimants\u2019 action and ordered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The local authority (Cluj municipality and Local Council) appealed. The Cluj Court of Appeal partially allowed the appeal only with respect to the amount awarded, reducing compensation to \u20ac117,312<\/strong>, while leaving all other rulings intact. They then appealed further, but that appeal was rejected in filter procedure at the High Court of Cassation and Justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Case Study by a Legal Practice in Cluj \u2014 Compensation for Expropriation in Fact Civil courts in Cluj-Napoca municipality have held that transferring a parcel of land free of charge to the municipality, in order to comply with the street grid imposed by the maps of the new PUG, is void (absolutely null), and that … <\/p>\nRelevance of the Case<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Presentation of the Case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Court\u2019s Reasoning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Compensation and Court Orders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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