November the 3rd, 2024 – Croatian landlords are furious about the recently proposed changes to the rental and property market, going as far as to threaten the government with a constitutional lawsuit.
As Index vijesti/news writes, Croatian landlords have decided to snap back at recent amendments aimed at property owners. In short, the state is set to require everyone who rents out their apartments in residential buildings to collect 80 percent of the tenants’ signatures in order to continue to rent. Furious, Croatian landlords have announced constitutional lawsuits against the government.
Goran Prskalo, a member of the Main Board of the Zagreb branch of the Croatian Association of Family Accommodation, told RTL that the law isn’t a buffet that people can just walk up to and take what they like from: “The law must be the same for everyone. The idea that one type of property owner is being ordered to collect signatures from people in order to rent out their properties, while all others, law offices, hair salons… do not have to do that, is ridiculous. We don’t believe that these amendments will pass a constitutionality test.”
constitutional lawsuits launched by angry croatian landlords
In addition to the Croatian Association of Family Accommodation, the civil initiative Spasimo male iznajmljivače/Save small renters is also announcing a constitutional lawsuit. So far, they have collected over three thousand signatures on a petition after government announced that all newly registered apartments will have to have the consent of co-owners in order to be rented out. Now that they have heard that the existing ones will have to do the same, they are even angrier.
“It’s simply impossible to gather 80 percent of tenants’ signatures, that is, a qualified majority for almost nothing. It’s particularly impossible to do what when we take state-owned apartments into account. What about those with unsettled property relationships? In such cases, who is supposed to provide the signatures? This is effectively a ban on renting out apartments in residential buildings,” believes Vedran Tomić from the aforementioned civil initiative.
Despite the anger of Croatian landlords, not everyone is protesting. Residential buildings are intended for housing, not tourism, stated the citizens’ initiative Tenants Together/Stanari zajedno. They’re also demanding that 100%, not 80% of tenant signatures must be collected. Žaklina Jurić from this initiative explained: “We understand those tourists who come to these apartments, they want to enjoy their time, they want to have fun. But that’s exactly why it’s not appropriate for them to have fun in a residential building where regular people live.”
what’s the government’s position?
Minister of Tourism and Sport Tonči Glavina presented the legal changes recently, and he arrived at the press conference with a photo of a residential entrance. He then counted up the key boxes to indicate what was actually happening in these buildings.
Although the government initially stated that the Building Management Act doesn’t apply to already registered apartments, they now claim that according to the Hospitality Act – it can. “It isn’t a retroactive implementation. Rather, if you look through history, we’ve been continuously changing rules and laws, let’s say related to the provision of services anywhere,” explained Minister Glavina.
The government told RTL that they had consulted constitutional law experts who told them that it can be retroactive if the legal move justifies the goal and was proposed with reasonable measures. Their goal is to increase the country’s overall housing stock, and the measure is that the transitional period will last five years. Those who fail to collect the necessary signatures within that period will have to re-purpose their rental apartment.
