The Office for Professional Legal Aid to Refugees, Displaced Persons and Other Persons from the Federation of BiH of the Republic Administration for Geodetic and Property Affairs in Istočno Sarajevo has received about 700 requests for free legal aid to date, and value of the disputed property is estimated at about seven million BAM, said for Srna the Director of the Administration, Bosiljka Predragović.

– These requests mainly concern the provision of information on the Real Estate Registration Project in FBiH, i.e. harmonization of cadastral and land register data, and instructions on the rights to be entered in the land register, evidence that can be used in the process of establishing or replacing the land register, form and content of property rights registration, manner of submitting the application to the competent land register office, and deadlines for submitting the registration of rights over real estate – Predragović pointed out.

She stated that the Office had also provided legal assistance to citizens in connection with the preparation of submissions related to the exercise and protection of property rights of interested citizens – property right registrations, requests for correction of errors in land registry entries, requests for plot history, notifications of address of residence, proposals for initiating probate hearing before the competent municipal court and passing a decision on inheritance, requests for submission of data from cadastral records.

According to her, citizens with property issues in FBiH had been provided with detailed explanations on the manner and possibility for resolving the specific legal matter before the competent court or municipal service for geodetic and property affairs, regarding the right, obligation or interest of the party.

According to the assessment of the Office, and based on the work with clients so far, Predragović stated that the most threatened were the rights of displaced persons from the territory of Sarajevo Canton, i.e. the municipalities such as Novo Sarajevo, Centar, and Ilidža.

– The biggest problem relates to military apartments, apartments from the housing fund of the former Federal Ministry of Defense. So far, we have received 38 such cases, where under the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments, persons who were occupancy right holders on the concerned apartments in the period after 19 May 1992, who remained in the military service in any armed force outside BiH territory, are not considered refugees and do not have the right to repossess their apartment in FBiH – she explained.

Predragović noted that the Law on Amendments to the Law on Sale of Apartments with Occupancy Rights was adopted in FBiH, but has not yet entered into force.

She said that great interest of the Serb population living outside BiH territory was noted during the campaign for the protection of the rights of Serbs in FBiH, and added that professional legal assistance was provided to many people from Serbia, Montenegro, Austria, Germany, Italy, Australia, America and Canada.

Source and photo: RTRS