OHR RRTF Report July 1997 – Annex 3 - Office of the High Representative

RRTF: Report July 1997

“Code of Practice”

Proposal by the Reconstruction and Return Task Force

Reconstruction agencies should obtain from the municipal authorities a list of the pre-war residents of each of the individual properties on which work needs to be carried out; or should obtain from municipal authorities the pre-war addresses of the beneficiaries identified for assistance.
Reconstruction agencies should corroborate the property title (ownership/lawful possession/occupancy right) by means independent of the municipal authority. The Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees can perform this service for a fee on a cost-recovery basis.
Reconstruction agencies should enter into an agreement with the municipal authority which obliges the municipal authority to permit the confirmed owner/occupant to return to the reconstructed property.
In cases where the confirmed owner/occupant chooses not to return, the municipal authority may issue a Certificate of Temporary Occupancy to another person for a specific but renewable period.
Any temporary occupant should be required by the municipal authority to sign a document acknowledging that the confirmed owner/occupant retains full legal rights to the property. This right is not affected by any reconstruction work done to the property before or during the period of temporary occupancy.