The Office of the High Representative and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees welcome the extension of the deadlines for purchasing socially owned apartments in the Federation, and would like to remind occupancy right holders of the new deadlines.

The new general deadline is 6 May 2000. Under the Law on the Sale of Apartments with Effective Occupancy Rights, it is sufficient for the occupancy right holder to notify in writing the allocation right holder of his/her intent to purchase their apartment by 6 May 2000 in order to meet the deadline. It is not necessary for him/her to have gathered all the documentation required for the purchase. The OHR and UNHCR recommend that the occupancy right holder send by registered mail a written request to the allocation right holder and attach whatever documentation s/he has gathered by then.

In addition, the 6 May deadline does not apply, or another deadline applies for the following categories of occupancy right holders:

• Occupancy right holders whose contracts on use of the apartment were issued between 1 April 1992 and 7 February 1998 and subsequently canceled, but whose contracts are in the process of being revalidated in accordance with the amended Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments and the amended Instruction on the Application of the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments. These occupancy right holders are requested to submit their request for purchasing their apartment within three months of the day when their contract on use is revalidated.

• Holders of occupancy rights to apartments administered by allocation right holders that are based in the Republika Srpska. These occupancy right holders are requested to submit their request for purchasing their apartment to the municipality in which the apartment is located by 6 June 2000.

• Holders of occupancy rights to apartments administered by allocation right holders that are based in states created from the former SFRY (other than Bosnia and Herzegovina). They are requested to submit their request for purchasing their apartment to the Federation Government by 6 June 2000.

• Holders of occupancy rights to their 1991 apartments, who have not yet repossessed those apartments, but who qualify as multiple users under the amended Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments; this means that they are expected to return to their 1991 apartment, and currently use someone else's apartment or house. These occupancy right holders are requested to submit their request for the purchase of their apartment within three months after they repossessed their 1991 apartment.

• Holders of occupancy rights to apartments that are destroyed or damaged (regardless of whether the apartment was declared abandoned or not). These occupancy right holders are requested to submit their request for the purchase of their apartment within three months after they repossessed their apartment.

• Occupancy right holders whose apartments were declared abandoned and who acquire the right to purchase them two years after their reinstatement. These occupancy right holders are requested to submit a claim for the purchase of the apartment within a six-month deadline of the day on which they acquired the right to purchase it, that is two years after they reoccupied the apartment.

These provisions are spelled out in the Law on the Sale of Apartments with Effective Occupancy Rights, as well as the Amendments to the Law on the Sale of Apartments with Effective Occupancy Rights and the Decision on the Temporary Regulation of the Sale of Apartments, which were published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on 6 March 2000. An additional Amendment to the Law stipulates that the validity of contracts on use of apartments concluded in accordance with the Law on Housing Relations will expire on 6 December 2000.

The OHR and UNHCR appeal to all institutions involved in the purchasing procedures in the Federation to work efficiently and carry out their duties as required under the law.