The end of the PRL spectrum under the block? One million cooperative members will finally regain peace
The government wants to finally deal with the problem of land after the Polish People’s Republic. The bill is intended to make life easier for up to one million residents of cooperatives.
Housing cooperatives are to be given the opportunity to establish perpetual usufruct on land whose legal status has remained unregulated since the times of the Polish People’s Republic – reports “Rzeczpospolita”. This is an area under blocks of flats where the residents’ everyday life has been going on for years, but formally there is still no clear ownership situation.
Disputed land
According to the daily, the problem affects up to one million people living in housing cooperative buildings located on such “disputed” land. As a result, tenants pay higher rents and their rights to use the premises are limited. They cannot set up a land and mortgage register, which not only makes it difficult for them to use credit, but also generates problems when selling.
When selling a flat with unregulated land, the prices obtained are up to 20% lower. compared to premises in neighboring buildings located in areas with regulated status. In addition, there is uncertainty as to the future fate of the premises – there is a fear of whether the apartment will remain in the family after the death of the person with a cooperative tenancy right to the premises.
The source of today’s problems is the way land was transferred to cooperatives in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. At that time, land was given to them without a thorough analysis of the legal status of the land. As recalled, it seemed that the problem would be solved after 1990, when local government units and the State Treasury were obliged to establish the right of perpetual usufruct.
However, there were no sanctions for failure to fulfill this obligation. As emphasized by Dr. Piotr Pałka, legal advisor and professor at the Sopot Academy of Applied Sciences, some local governments have not yet completed the task assigned to them. As a result, cooperatives have been trying to assert their rights in courts for years, but with little success – some cases have been dragging on for over three decades.
Statutory solution
“Rzeczpospolita” informs that the government intends to finally address the problem of cooperatives at the statutory level. On Tuesday, a decision was made to include the draft of the appropriate act in the list of legislative works of the Council of Ministers. It is intended to be a tool that will finally resolve the dispute over land under cooperative blocks.
“We want to restore the right to cooperatives to apply for the establishment of perpetual usufruct in an administrative manner and introduce a decree exception that will allow Warsaw to implement these applications,” announces Deputy Minister of Development Tomasz Lewandowski in an interview with Rz.
If the project is adopted, cooperatives will have a formal path to regulating the status of the land occupied by their buildings. For residents, this may mean not only greater legal security, but also a chance to improve the market value of the premises and sort out the issue of inheritance of apartments after deceased members of the cooperative.
