Often in cases of construction of streets and other urban amenities private real estates are being expropriated in favour of the respective municipality. Under the legislation into force, in such cases, property owners are entitled to “fair compensation”. This fair compensation is evaluated at market prices – in an order issued by the municipality mayor. The evaluation itself is prepared by an expert from the municipal spatial planning administration. Despite the objective criteria on the basis of which the еvaluation is drafted, it is often inconsistently low as compared to the actual value of the property. Such reduction of the value of the real estate harms the legitimate interests of property owners.
Usually the decreased amount of compensation is due to the fact that the following essential parameters of the properties expropriated are not taken into account for their evaluation:
- construction works in the property;
- fence built in the property (especially when the fence is a solid one);
- permanent crops – e.g. perennial plant species, fruit trees, century-old trees, etc.;
- the location of the property in a higher price zone (in view of comparable market analogues), etc.
Illegal constructions (without proper construction documentation) in expropriated properties, are not taken into account for the evaluation and are not subject to compensation.
Where the amount of the compensation determined by the municipality is excessively low, property owners have the right to appeal against the mayor’s order for evaluation. A court appeal against the order may be lodged within the statutory period of 14 days as of the date of notification for issuance of the order before the competent administrative court. Usually, within the court proceedings, an expert is appointed, whose expertise serves to determine the exact value of the property or of the part of the property to be expropriated. The order appellation outlined may lead to an increase in the evaluation of the property and to an increase in the amount of the compensation on behalf of the owners.
By end of September, 2021, some of the pending expropriation proceedings within Metropolitan Municipality include:
- “Todor Kableshkov” Blvd. within the section from “Louis Eyer”Str. and “Emiliyan stanev” Str.;
- “Filip Kutev” Str. within the section from “Cherni Vrah” Blvd. to “Srebarna” Str. and a project track of “Todor Kableshkov” Blvd. to “Simeonovsko shoes” Blvd., a section from “Chavdar Mutafov” Str. to “Simeonovsko Shose” Str.;
- Dragalevska River in the section from “Hizhite” Str. to “Sofia Ring Road”;
- a section from ”Vladimir Vazov” Str. to “North Express Tangent”;
- sections from “Mitropolit Serafim Slivenski” Str., Mladost district.
If you own a property located within the areas mentioned above and you have been notified of an impending expropriation of the whole or a part of your property, please contact us. Our team has the experience necessary to successfully provide legal assistance against under-compensation for the expropriation of your property.