Latvia completes 30-year-long land reform restoring property rights taken away by Soviet regime

RIGA - The State Land Service (SLS) this month completed Latvia's land reform, which lasted for more than 30 years, the service informed LETA.

The State Land Service explains that the commissions established to implement the reform have examined all land requests and adopted the necessary decisions.

The reform was launched in 1990 to restore land ownership rights to those whose land properties had been taken away during Latvia's illegal incorporation into the former Soviet Union. The reform includes land distribution, restitution to former owners or their heirs, allotment of land for free use, and privatization.

The reform in Latvia involved two main stages: the claiming and restoration of land rights, or the establishment of legal facts for claiming and granting land, and the practical implementation of land property rights, namely the cadastral survey of land and entering the data in land registers.

At the same time, a further two-year period has been set for the distribution of land not allocated during the reform between state authorities and municipalities.

Meanwhile, the cadastral survey and registration of the restituted land continues. According to the State Land Service, by January 20, almost 5,440 former land owners or their heirs had not yet entered data on the land returned to them in the land registers.