Only in three municipalities (of 20 audited) the municipality’s ownership was disclosed in land and mortgage registers for all properties seized for municipal roads. In the remaining 17 municipalities as much as 17.5 percent of parcels lacked relevant entries. They occupied 15.6 percent of all properties seized for municipal roads. At the same time some properties did not meet the conditions to file a request for ownership disclosure in land and mortgage registers because the municipalities did not have required documents. This is in part a consequence of long-term negligence on part of municipality heads who filed requests in that matter with a dozen or so years’ delays.
The main reason of that negligence is that the municipality heads know nothing about their properties or their legal status. That knowledge should derive from reliable records of properties. NIK audit showed, however, that the municipalities neglected that obligation. The municipality heads explained they had no money to order or complete the documentation. Sometimes it happened that they learnt about some parcels with unresolved legal status from NIK auditors.
The owners of parcels covered by damages proceedings were also in trouble. They were usually forced to wait for the payment of damages several months, in extreme cases it was 4 or even 10 years.
After the audit NIK submitted the following recommendations to town and city mayors and community heads:
- to speed up damages payment to former property owners;
- to establish the actual number and size of properties seized for municipal roads, establish which ones of them require determination of the legal status or disclosure of the municipality’s ownership in land and mortgage registers and discharge those tasks;
- to update records of municipal roads, ensure their authenticity and transfer valid data to the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways;
- to ensure consistency of data in different records (whether related to properties, roads or accounting).
