The OHR would like to remind all holders of occupancy rights to socially owned apartments in the Federation that the deadline for purchasing these apartments is expiring on 6 March 2000.
Under the Law on the Sale of Apartments with Occupancy Right, it is sufficient for the occupancy right holders to notify in writing the allocation right holders of their intent to purchase their apartment by 6 March 2000 in order to meet the deadline. It is not necessary for them to have gathered all the documentation required for the purchase. The OHR recommends that the occupancy right holders send by registered mail a written request to the allocation right holders and attach whatever documents they have gathered.
Occupancy right holders whose apartments were declared abandoned and who acquire the right to purchase them only two years after their reinstatement, are exempted from the deadline. They may 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.
The OHR encourages the Federation Government to extend at its next session the deadline for the following categories of occupancy right holders:
1.) 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 provisions of the Amendment on the Instruction on the Application of the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments.
2.) Holders of occupancy rights to apartments administered by allocation right holders that are based abroad or in Republika Srpska.
3.) Holders of occupancy rights to apartments that are destroyed or damaged.
4.) Holders of occupancy rights to apartments that were never declared abandoned, but who have not yet repossessed these apartments.
The OHR encourages the Federation and the RS Governments to establish a mechanism enabling occupancy right holders to purchase socially owned apartments that are located in one Entity, but administered by allocation right holders based in the other Entity; in particular when the RS adopts a Law on the Sale of Apartments with Occupancy Right.
The OHR appeals to all institutions involved in the purchasing procedures in the Federation to work efficiently and treat the citizens with due respect.