Amendments to the Law on Rental of Apartments Submitted to Parliamentary Procedure

The amendments to the Law on Rental of Apartments, which the Government submitted to parliamentary procedure on Thursday, address a problem that has existed for 20 years and achieve a fair balance between the opposing interests of landlords and tenants, emphasized Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction Predrag Štromar.

– Croatia is solving the problem from 1998 in a fair and sustainable manner and achieving a balance between the opposing interests of apartment owners (landlords) and protected tenants, with an active role of the state, said Štromar explaining the proposed amendments to the law.

According to the proposed amendments to the law, apartment owners will receive a specific date from which they can fully freely dispose of their property, and until then, their protected rent will gradually increase over a period of five years from the date the law comes into force.

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Protected tenants, after their status expires, will receive a state subsidy for paying the market rent price over a period of five years, subject to property and area criteria.

For subsidizing the difference to the market rent, 40.5 million kuna will be secured from the budget, and 2.7 million kuna from the budget of local government units, Štromar noted.

The protected rent would gradually increase from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2023, when the right of tenants and protected subtenants to protected rent ceases, but they retain the right of first refusal for the apartment (from July 1, 2023).

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It is also determined that the obligation to pay the difference between the increased and protected rent applies to users of apartments who use them based on regulations regarding the rights of Croatian veterans and recipients of social assistance (from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2023).

The right to a subsidy for freely negotiated rent is also prescribed for tenants and protected subtenants whose net income per household member is less than half of the average salary, according to the size of the corresponding apartment, for the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2028.

With the proposed amendments, Štromar added, the legal gap following the decision of the Constitutional Court in 1998, which relates to the termination of rental contracts and ensuring the tenant another suitable apartment, is filled, and the risks for the Republic of Croatia due to non-implementation of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights are eliminated.

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This refers to a ruling from 2014 that Sergej Statileo filed against Croatia in court based on the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for violation of property rights due to the inability to collect appropriate rent. The court decided that Croatia should pay him 10,550 euros.

Minister of Administration Lovro Kuščević expressed satisfaction with the proposed amendments as they finally address the issue of unjustly confiscated property during the communist regime.

– Compensation will be provided to the owners of those apartments, and we are also approaching the tenants in an appropriate manner, ensuring they will not be thrown out onto the street, but that the state will take care of them over a longer period, he said.

Adopted Plan for Personnel Recruitment in the Armed Forces for This Year

The Government also adopted a plan for personnel recruitment in the Armed Forces this year, which foresees the recruitment of 1,409 persons, of which 836 from the labor market, while 573 are already in the defense system and only their category within the military personnel is changing.

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The plan proposes that, in addition to 836 persons from the labor market, 800 soldiers and sailors will be recruited through a public competition, with whom contracts will be signed from the generation of voluntary military training, noted Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Damir Krstičević.

The plan also includes the recruitment of 33 candidates for officers from the labor market for missing professions (doctors of medicine, masters of physics, aerospace engineering, and aeronautics), as well as one senior advisor and two persons for collaborative and scientific teaching positions, for the implementation of study programs at the HVU “Dr. Franjo Tuđman.”