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THIRD
SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 33176/08
Jaroslav SOCHOR
against Slovakia
The
European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 4 January
2012 as a Chamber composed of:
Josep
Casadevall, President,
Corneliu Bîrsan,
Alvina
Gyulumyan,
Ján Šikuta,
Luis López
Guerra,
Nona Tsotsoria,
Mihai Poalelungi,
judges,
and Santiago Quesada,
Section Registrar,
Having
regard to the above application lodged on 26 June 2008,
Having
regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and
the observations in reply submitted by the applicant,
Having
deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
- The
applicant, Mr Jaroslav Sochor, is a Slovak national who was born in
1950 and lives in Bratislava. He was represented before the Court by
Mr P. Vačok, a lawyer practising
in Bratislava. The Government of the Slovak Republic (“the
Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M.
Pirošíková.
A. The circumstances of the case
- The
facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as
follows.
1. Background information on rent control
- After
1948, when the communist regime had been installed in the former
Czechoslovakia, the housing policy was based on a doctrine aimed at
the restriction and abolition of private ownership.
- Some residential houses were confiscated and some
owners of residential houses were compelled to transfer their
property to the State for no or inadequate compensation. Those owners
who were not formally deprived of the ownership of their residential
housing were subjected to restrictions in the exercise of their
property rights.
- As
regards flats in residential houses, tenancy was replaced by the
“right of lasting use”.
- The
Flats Management Act 1964, which was in force until 1 January 1992,
entitled public authorities to decide on the right of use of flats.
Special regulations governed the sums which the users had to pay.
On 1 January 1992 “the right of lasting use” was
transformed into a tenancy with regulated rent.
- After
1991 some residential houses were restored to their former owners;
however, flats in these houses were mostly occupied by tenants with
regulated rent.
- Under
the relevant law (for details see “Relevant domestic law and
practice” below), owners of residential houses in a position
similar to that of the applicant in the present case have been
obliged to accept that all or some of their flats are occupied by
tenants while charging no more than the maximum amount of rent
fixed by the State (“the rent-control scheme”). Despite
repeated increases in the maximum rent which the domestic law
entitles house owners in this position to charge, that amount has
remained below the level of rent in similar housing premises which
are let on the principles of a free-market economy.
- In
situations similar to that of the applicant, the owners of
residential houses had practically no legal possibility to terminate
tenancies and evict tenants without providing them with “housing
compensation”. Furthermore, owners were not allowed to transfer
ownership of a flat leased by an individual to any third person other
than a tenant.
- Documents
of the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development indicate
that registration forms have been submitted by tenants in respect of
923 flats where rent control is applied. 2,311 persons have lived in
those flats, the average surface area of which is 71.38 square
metres. The documents indicate that it is envisaged that substitute
accommodation will be made available to the persons concerned by the
planned reform to the extent that this is justified by their social
situation. 76.5% of the tenants thus registered lived in flats
located in Bratislava.
- On
the basis of those data, the authorities have estimated that the
rent-control scheme currently concerns approximately 1,000 flats,
that is, 0.24% of rental flats in houses that existed in 1991 and
0.06% of the inhabited housing facilities which were available in
Slovakia in 2001.
2. Particular circumstances of the applicant’s case
- The
applicant owns a 2/3 share of a residential building situated in
Bratislava-Nivy. He acquired part of the property in 1992 and another
part in 1997.
- The
house comprises three two-room flats and one one-room flat. They are
occupied by tenants under the rent-control scheme. The owners are
allowed to charge monthly rent from EUR 40 to EUR 60 in their
respect. Those amounts correspond from EUR 0.8 to EUR 1.05 per square
metre depending on the number of rooms and the surface area.
- The
applicant submitted that the reference rent in the same area applied
on the basis of the principles of the free-market economy was between
EUR 305 and EUR 396 in respect of single-room flats and between EUR
396 and EUR 488 in respect of two-room flats. The applicant further
maintained that the rent which the house owners can receive
represents between 28% and 37% of the monthly depreciation value of
the flats (calculated on the basis of a depreciation period of twenty
years for the house).
- The
Government relied on the opinion of an expert indicating that the
average market price for the lease of comparable flats in the
Bratislava Nivy municipality was between EUR 5.271 and EUR
5.352 per square metre. According to that opinion, in comparable
flats rent applied on the basis of free market economy was
approximately EUR 210 in respect of single-room flats and EUR 310 in
respect of two-room flats.
B. Relevant domestic law and practice
- Pursuant
to Article 20 § 1 of the Constitution, the ownership right of
all persons has the same legal content and it enjoys the same
protection.
- Article
124 of the Civil Code guarantees the same rights and obligations to
all owners. Equal legal protection is to be provided to all owners.
- A
recapitulation of the relevant domestic law and practice concerning
the rent-control scheme is set out in Krahulec v. Slovakia
(dec.), no. 19294/07, 7 June 2011).
- In addition, on 15 September 2011, the Act on
Termination and Settlement of Certain Apartment Tenancy Contracts
(Law no. 260/2011) came into effect. It was adopted with a view to
eliminating rent payment restrictions concerning individual owners.
- Its provisions are applicable, in particular, to
apartments of individuals whose rent has so far been regulated. In
those cases, landlords are entitled to terminate a tenancy contract
by 31 March 2012. Such termination of tenancy is to take effect after
a twelve-month notice period. However, if a tenant is exposed to
material hardship, he or she will be able to continue to use the
apartment with regulated rent, even after the contract termination,
until a new tenancy contract with a municipality has been set up. Law
no. 260/2011 further entitles landlords to increase rent by 20% once
a year until 2015.
- Municipalities
are obliged to provide a person exposed to material hardship with
lease of a municipal apartment with regulated rent. If a municipality
does not comply with that obligation until 31 December 2016 in a
particular case, the landlord can claim the difference between the
free market rent and regulated rent.
COMPLAINTS
- The
applicant complained that his rights under Article 1 of Protocol No.
1 had been violated as a result of the implementation of the rules
governing rent control in respect of his property.
- The
applicant also complained that he was discriminated against in
comparison with the owners of similar housing facilities to whom the
rent control scheme did not apply.
THE LAW
A. Article 1 of Protocol No. 1
- The
applicant complained that he was restricted in enjoying his property
as a result of the rent-control scheme. He alleged a breach of
Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, which reads as follows:
“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the
peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of
his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the
conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of
international law.
The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way
impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems
necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the
general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other
contributions or penalties.”
1. Arguments of the parties
(a) The Government
- The
Government admitted that the rent-control scheme had resulted in
a limitation on the use of the applicant’s property. Such
a measure was in accordance with the relevant domestic law, which met
the requirements of accessibility and clarity, and the effects of
which were sufficiently foreseeable.
- The
interference pursued a legitimate aim, namely, to protect tenants
against unaffordable increases in rent. The Government argued that
the national authorities in principle had more direct knowledge of
the general interest and that spheres such as housing, as a prime
social need, often called for some form of regulation by the State.
- As
to the requirement of proportionality, the Government maintained that
a swift deregulation of rent would have had unfavourable social
implications, and that therefore the rights of tenants which had been
established in the earlier non-market environment had to be protected
while the State found a means of gradually resolving the issue. The
rent-control scheme was therefore compatible with the general
interest within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.
There had been several increases in permissible rent levels and other
measures had been taken with a view to resolving the issue.
- The
Government further pointed to the fact that many of the tenants were
elderly and that the municipalities concerned did not have enough
housing stock for those socially dependent on regulated rent schemes.
- Since
the rent-control scheme currently affected only about
1,000 dwellings, amounting to 0.06% of the overall number of
permanently inhabited housing facilities, it was questionable whether
the situation in question was “systemic”.
- The
Government concluded that the rent-control scheme met the general
interest of society and was compatible with the interests of house
and flat owners, as the maximum level of rent chargeable had been
regularly increased and the number of houses to which the
rent-control scheme would be applicable after 2011 had been reduced,
while a legal framework for ending the rent-control system was
devised.
(b) The applicant
- The
applicant alleged that the interference with his right to peaceful
enjoyment of his property imposed a disproportionate burden on him
for which there existed no relevant justification.
- In
particular, the applicant argued that the extent of the limitations
imposed on the use of his property and their duration were excessive
and could not be considered as necessary. The figures put forward by
the Government indicated that the number of persons in respect of
whom the rent-control scheme applied was relatively low. The need for
ensuring appropriate housing conditions for them by means of rent
control at the expense of the house owners could not, therefore, be
considered as corresponding to a pressing public interest. Nothing
showed that providing the house owners with appropriate compensation
would jeopardise the State’s economic situation.
- The
relevant law did not require any verification as to whether the
users’ actual situation was such that they should benefit from
controlled rent. The interference with the applicant’s rights
under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 was clearly disproportionate as the
permissible rent under the rent control scheme was below
justifiable costs in respect of the flats in issue.
2. The Court’s assessment
- The
Court considers, in the light of the parties’ submissions, that
the complaint raises serious issues of fact and law under the
Convention, the determination of which requires an examination of the
merits. The Court concludes therefore that this complaint is not
manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of
the Convention. No other ground for declaring it inadmissible has
been established. It must therefore be declared admissible.
B. Article 14 of the Convention taken together with Article 1 of
Protocol No. 1
- The
applicant maintained that the restrictions imposed by the
rent control scheme amounted to discriminatory treatment. The
Court considers it appropriate to examine this complaint under
Article 14 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 1 of
Protocol No. 1. Article 14 reads:
“The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set
forth in [the] Convention shall be secured without discrimination on
any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political
or other opinion, national or social origin, association with
a national minority, property, birth or other status.”
- The
Government argued that the applicant’s situation was not
relevantly similar to that of other house owners to whose property
the rent control scheme did not apply. In particular, persons
like the applicant, to whom the houses had been restored at the
beginning of the 1990s, had been aware that the persons living in the
flats concerned would retain the right to use them. Unlike in the
case of publicly owned flats, those inhabitants had had no right of
purchasing the flats in houses which had been restored to the
original owners. There was therefore a requirement to provide legal
protection to those persons by means of the rent-control scheme.
- The
applicant disagreed. He argued that all owners should enjoy equal
rights. The mere fact that the property had been restored to the
applicant by the State did not justify his different treatment as to
the scope to which he could enjoy his property.
- The
Court considers, in the light of the parties’ submissions, that
the complaint raises serious issues of fact and law under the
Convention, the determination of which requires an examination of the
merits. The Court concludes therefore that this complaint is not
manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of
the Convention. No other ground for declaring it inadmissible has
been established. It must therefore be declared admissible.
C. Article 13 of the Convention
- Upon
communication of the application to the Government the Court decided,
of its own motion, to put a question as to whether the applicant had
an effective remedy at his disposal as required by Article 13 of the
Convention.
- Since
the applicant made no comment on that question in his observations,
the Court considers that no further examination of this issue is
called for.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Declares admissible, without prejudging the merits, the
applicant’s complaint under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, both
taken alone and in conjunction with Article 14 of the Convention,
concerning the restrictions which the rent-control scheme has imposed
on his right to peacefully enjoy his possessions;
Decides that it is no longer required to examine whether the
facts of the case amount to a breach of Article 13 of the Convention.
Santiago Quesada Josep
Casadevall Registrar President
