The former Soviet republics that regained independence are united not only by history but by problems with reinstating rights to property that was nationalized or unlawfully seized by the occupation regime. In Latvia this process was regulated by property reforms that relate to separate types of property; thus reinstating property rights of land and of residential houses were performed separately. This model was chosen to minimize social tension.
Denationalization of ownership is governed by the laws "On the Denationalization of Building Properties in the Republic of Latvia" and "On Restoring Ownership Rights to their Legal Owners." Claims were to be submitted by June 1, 1994 to local government or courts. If a claim and according documentation was not submitted by this date, the applicant lost his/her rights to restore ownership of the property.
The law, however, prescribes one exception when, even if the deadline is missed, ownership rights are restored: If a submitter has had ownership rights restored to the land of a building under dispute based on a request submitted by June 1, 1994, the property will be returned if it does not affect the lawful interests of third parties.
Unlike the denationalization of building properties, the land property restoration process is still continuing. The Law "On Land Reform in the Cities of the Republic of Latvia" prescribes three terms for restoration of land ownership rights. The original edition of the law prescribed that requests on restoring land ownership rights should be submitted by June 20, 1992. In 1994 legislators adopted amendments allowing requests to be submitted until June 1, 1994. Later amendments said that even if this deadline is missed, ownership rights can be restored by a court.
With these amendments, in fact, all terms of request submission were cancelled since the law did not prescribe any term for requesting a claim. Because of this, legislators defined "another" final term for submitting requests 's July 1, 1999.
It seems that due to the passivity of Latvians, this deadline was cancelled as well once it was determined that an application in court can be submitted without any term limit, except in the following cases:
1) another person has restored or acquired land ownership rights in accordance with the law;
2) a city land commission has taken a respective statement regarding the transfer of land in return for payment;
3) the land has been transferred for privatization as a built-up or vacant property object.
Lastly, legislators, realizing that it is not possible to make the carry out a process without any terms, adopted amendments according to which ownership of land may be restored by a court if an application is submitted by Sept. 1, 2008.
These amendments also stated that the court would not restore ownership rights if any of the following features are established:
1) another person has restored or acquired land ownership rights in accordance with the law;
2) a city land commission has taken a respective statement regarding the transfer of land into ownership in return for payment;
3) the land has been transferred for privatization or alienation as a built-up or vacant property.
Presently this is the date after which a former owner will no longer be able to pursue claims on reinstating property rights to land. It is hard to foresee whether this date will be changed; likewise, it would be reckless to hope that legislators would establish a new deadline. Thus, Sept. 1, 2008, should be considered as the last invitation to pursue a claim in court on reinstating property rights of land.
Martin Mezinskis is an associate at Kronbergs & Cukste, a member of Baltic Legal Solutions, a pan-Baltic integrated legal network of law firms which includes Teder, Glikman & Partnerid in Estonia and Jurevicius, Balciunas & Bartkus in Lithuania, dedicated to providing a quality 'one-stop shop' approach to clients' needs in the Baltics.
