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Post by mark2 on Jan 7, 2006 18:26:48 GMT 1
The Croatian Government have announced the commencement of the demolition of 600 properties on the island of Vir. All without building permits and many within 70 metres of the sea to uphold recent building laws. There is also a huge charge to the present owners for the demolition and removal of their badly-purchased properties.
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Post by mambo on Jan 8, 2006 1:32:40 GMT 1
600 properties ??
Will there be anything left on the island ??
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Post by mark2 on Jan 8, 2006 17:04:38 GMT 1
Unfortunately another 6,400 properties!
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Post by yeslehc on Jan 9, 2006 12:14:08 GMT 1
you say (removal of their badly purchased property)is that to say these have recently been built ??two questions spring to mind here, 1/ If they were built before the new legislation was bought in, surely they should be exempt, 2/ what about houses that have benn standing for say 10 or 20 years that have their original building permission, are they exempt. Do you know where one can get a copy of the new legislation, and do you know if they differ from island to island.
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Post by irac on Jan 9, 2006 16:05:26 GMT 1
It's shocking to read the list of properties and areas that are going to be demolished. Hundreds in Rogoznica, dozens in Sibenik, over 1,000 in Split, the same in Dubrovnik, hundreds in Sibenik and Zadar, what I can't understand is that (I saw it with a house up past Zadar) if it was built to the best specifications, and the fault in the application lay with the architect and the court who failed to inform the builder/owner, shouldn't there be recourse?
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Post by janskov on Jan 9, 2006 23:31:55 GMT 1
Where do you find this list of properties?
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Post by mambo on Jan 10, 2006 0:33:55 GMT 1
I agree that they should make a distinction between 'not asking for permission on purpose' and 'not asking for permission because the goverment doesn't work'.
There are however loads of people who simply started building in locations with the only intention to make a profit. Even ministers, lawyers etc did the same thing, everybody wanted to get a piece of the action.
The law with regard to tearing the houses down was not introduced all of a sudden, owners were warned and did have the opportunity to apply for a permit. The ones that did not apply for a permit are the ones who can face the consequences, but..........
What happens if you are a foreigner, who became a victim of criminal real estate agents etc and you bought your house, thinking that everything was OK. Now you are sitting in Germany, Brittain etc and you obviously don't read any letters (in Croatian) that are sent to you. Next year you come back and your house is gone !
Sounds like impossible ? Not really, because it already happened to some tourist investors here in Istria.
The best story however is that the houses of a local politician and a wealthy lawyer from Zagreb will be torn down shortly. The house of the lawyer is a real nice one, it was on the rental market last year for 4000 euro per week. The house has two swimming pools, I don't know how many bedrooms, must say it really is a beautiful house, but ..........built without any permission. Obviously he thought that his friend the politician would prevent the destruction of his house, but he made a mistake.
I am sure we will see the pictures in the newspaper when they are tearing it down.
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Post by mark2 on Jan 10, 2006 18:43:42 GMT 1
The first 300 properties to be demolished are predominatly owned by Hungarians, possibly buying for cheap prices and not able to pay for the retrospective permissions, permits and plans. Some of the 600 properties are actually built "in the middle" of a designated road. If you have been to Vir, it is an absolute disaster, narrow roads (if you are lucky) absolutely no planning, there are (as far as I am aware) no official lists of the properties to be demolished and I am sure the Ministry won't try to trace foreign owners to send them notification in their home country! For Example Elektra come around just before Xmas and if a Holiday home owner hasnt paid their bill, they get cut off, so when they return in the Summer they have to pay for reconnection and why not! Rules are rules! For example before 1969 -70, you could build 5 metres from the sea, then it changed to 10 metres etc etc.. Vir has become the prostitute of Croatian Islands, building without licence, buying because the properties were cheap...alas, the time of reckoning has come. TRUE: Some properties were sold with "forged" paperwork and I find it funny that the local estate agent is called "Cisti Otok" The Clean Island! (not that they have anything to do with fraud) Lawyers, architects and Agents have no responsibilty after the sale, although they should be! The "Upside" to these demolition works, is that these illegal properties will be removed from any possible resale, hopefully both builders and buyers will learn a very hard lesson and purchasing properties in Croatia will be another step easier, especially with the 4 Million Euros of EU money donated to help the kataster. As an aside, I have been this story several times....Before the war, an Atomic Power plant was planned for Vir, to try and avoid this the local council decided to promote residential building without licence, so the plant could not be built. It obviously worked to avoid the power plant....the council then tried to have all of the properties approved, apparently to no avail. visitcroatia.proboards21.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=property&thread=1067621770&page=1
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Post by mark2 on Jan 10, 2006 18:44:09 GMT 1
The first 300 properties to be demolished are predominatly owned by Hungarians, possibly buying for cheap prices and not able to pay for the retrospective permissions, permits and plans. Some of the 600 properties are actually built "in the middle" of a designated road. If you have been to Vir, it is an absolute disaster, narrow roads (if you are lucky) absolutely no planning, there are (as far as I am aware) no official lists of the properties to be demolished and I am sure the Ministry won't try to trace foreign owners to send them notification in their home country! For Example Elektra come around just before Xmas and if a Holiday home owner hasnt paid their bill, they get cut off, so when they return in the Summer they have to pay for reconnection and why not! Rules are rules! For example before 1969 -70, you could build 5 metres from the sea, then it changed to 10 metres etc etc.. Vir has become the prostitute of Croatian Islands, building without licence, buying because the properties were cheap...alas, the time of reckoning has come. TRUE: Some properties were sold with "forged" paperwork and I find it funny that the local estate agent is called "Cisti Otok" The Clean Island! (not that they have anything to do with fraud) Lawyers, architects and Agents have no responsibilty after the sale, although they should be! The "Upside" to these demolition works, is that these illegal properties will be removed from any possible resale, hopefully both builders and buyers will learn a very hard lesson and purchasing properties in Croatia will be another step easier, especially with the 4 Million Euros of EU money donated to help the kataster. As an aside, I have been told this story several times....Before the war, an Atomic Power plant was planned for Vir, to try and avoid this the local council decided to promote residential building without licence, so the plant could not be built. It obviously worked to avoid the power plant....the council then tried to have all of the properties approved, apparently to no avail. visitcroatia.proboards21.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=property&thread=1067621770&page=1
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