02-04-2012 Expropriations

What is changing in expropriations

The Ministry of Infrastructure’s omnibus bill brings significant changes to the institutional framework for expropriations, with the aim of speeding up and reducing the cost of procedures for large projects, mainly those relating to the Trans-European Road Network and those co-financed by the EU.

An important change brought about by the omnibus bill is that the price of expropriation of real estate may be determined not only by the State’s appraisal committee but also by an independent certified appraiser. The criteria for assessing the value of the property—which cannot be less than the objective value—are basically the value of adjacent and similar properties at the time of the assessment, as well as the property’s income potential.

With the aim of avoiding the payment of excessive compensation for properties whose value has “inflated” after the area where they are located was declared an urban regeneration zone, no account is taken of any change in the value of the expropriated property after the area was designated an urban regeneration zone.

In the event of disagreement on the amount of compensation, the final determination shall be made upon request by any interested party to the competent courts, which shall be exercised within 60 days of notification of the decision determining it. In this case, the competent judge shall set a date for the hearing of the application no less than 30 days and no more than 60 days after its submission and shall at the same time order that the application be served with the notice of hearing, at the applicant’s expense and at least 20 days before the hearing, to each interested party.

Furthermore, according to the provisions promoted for the execution of projects under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Infrastructure that are part of the Trans-European Transport Network or co-financed by the European Union (EU), the expropriation of the necessary real estate is declared exceptionally by decision of the Minister of Infrastructure, Transport, and Networks.

In fact, in urgent cases, which are adequately justified by the project implementing body, expropriation may be declared by means of a simple horizontal diagram. However, in order to declare expropriation, the service or body requesting the expropriation must in all cases issue a notice stating the purpose and specifying the area to be expropriated.