CASE OF KOSTOV v. BULGARIA
Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions)
Carlo Ranzoni
4. The applicant was born in 1956 and lives in Sofia. 5. The applicant’s father co-owned a plot of land and a house in Sofia. 6. By a decision of the mayor of 15 July 1981 the property was expropriated with a view to constructing residential buildings. The decision, based on section 98 (1) of the Territorial and Urban Planning Act of 1973 (Закон за териториалното и селищно устройство), provided that the applicant’s father and the applicant were to receive a three-room flat in compensation. 7. By a supplementary decision of 25 March 1987, based on section 100 of the Territorial and Urban Planning Act, the mayor determined the exact location, size and other details in respect of the future flat offered in compensation. It was to have a surface of 109 square metres and was identified as flat no. 17 on the fifth floor of a residential building which was to be constructed by a State-owned enterprise. Lastly, it was decided that the flat would be given directly to the applicant. 8. In 1989 the applicant paid to the authorities the part of the value of the future flat which had not been covered by the value of the expropriated property. In 1990 the Sofia municipality settled him temporarily in a flat which was property of the State-owned enterprise B. 9. On an unspecified date the construction of the building where the flat was to be located was commenced. In 1996 the Sofia municipality concluded a contract with the company B., successor of the State-owned enterprise, delegating to it the construction works. The company was under an obligation to build, at its own expense, and deliver to the municipality, within twenty-four months, the flats earmarked for compensation of the expropriated owners; in exchange of that it was to become the owner of the remainder of the building. 10. However, the construction was not completed within the deadline set. In 2005, in the context of the winding-up of the company B., the building, still unfinished, was sold to another company. The latter apparently resold the property to a third company, which in 2006 obtained a notary deed declaring it the owner of the building and the flats in it, including one half of flat no. 17 on the fifth floor; however, unlike what was indicated in the decision of 25 March 1987 (see paragraph 7 above), that flat was described as having a surface of 91, and not 109, square metres. The applicant submitted a certificate of occupancy of the building at issue, dated 5 October 2007, but claimed that it only concerned “certain construction activities” and that the building was not in use. 11. In the meantime, the applicant filed several requests with the municipal authorities in Sofia asking them to complete the compensation procedure and deliver the flat due to him. In a letter of 25 July 2000 the municipality informed him that the company B. had reassured the authorities that it was making effort to fulfill its obligations. In another letter of 13 August 2004 the municipality informed the applicant that it was the company that was responsible to deliver the flat to him. Lastly, in a letter of 8 November 2011 the Sofia municipality informed the applicant that he should have raised his claims in the winding-up procedure of the company B., or should contact the current owner of the building to claim the flat due to him. 12. In 2007 the applicant was evicted from the flat where he had been temporarily settled, after it had been sold to a private party in the context of the winding-up of the company B. In the ensuing judicial proceedings whereby he challenged unsuccessfully the eviction it was established that at that time the applicant was not living in the flat, and that it was uninhabitable and in a very poor state of repair.