On Thursday, 25 November, the Saeima adopted in the final reading the Law on the Termination of Enforced Property Division in Privatised Multi‑apartment Houses. The Law sets out the procedure for starting and implementing the process of establishing a single property in case of enforced property division where the multi‑apartment house with privatised apartments is located on the land owned by another person.

The new regulation provides for an opportunity to terminate the forced division of property between the owner of an apartment in a multi‑apartment house and the owner of the land. From now on, a community of apartment owners will have the right to redeem the land owned by the landowner.

Apartment owners can redeem the respective land upon a decision by the community of apartment owners. The local government will have to determine the land parcel functionally required for the respective building.

On the basis of the decision of the local government, the State Land Service will determine the land parcel to be redeemed and its price. The land parcel can be redeemed at its cadastral value.

After starting the redemption process and receiving a notification from the State Land Service, a sworn bailiff will initiate the proceedings for the termination of enforced property division. The Law also lays down the further procedure for establishing a single property, which will be done by a sworn bailiff. Expenses incurred for the purpose of the proceedings and the remuneration for the office of sworn bailiff will be paid from the state budget according to the procedure set by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Apartment owners will be able to redeem the land for a price constituted by the sum of the cadastral values of land parcels and sections of land parcels constituting the land. The part of redemption price for each apartment owner will be determined according to the size of the undivided share of the joint property that is part of the residential property.

A single property will be entered in the Land Register after the redemption price is transferred to the deposit account of the sworn bailiff. After cadastral survey of the land and the registration of the ownership rights, the bailiff will pay the redemption cost to the landowner.

The Law also provides for state aid so that people can pay the redemption cost calculated for each residential property. The Cabinet will determine the types, amount, and procedure for receiving this support. When taking out a loan for this purpose, it will not be necessary to pledge the property, that is, the apartment.

According to the new Law, land redemption for establishing joint property in case of enforced property division can begin in 2023.

As stated in the explanatory note of the Draft Law, according to the State Land Service data, there are currently 3677 residential buildings with 110,970 apartments in Latvia located on 7354 land parcels owned by other persons.

Saeima Press Service