"It's something that's never been offered to people," he said Aleksandar Vučić announcing the imminent enactment of legislation that will finally solve the problem of illegal construction.
The state will not be able to earn anything, said Vučić, however, our people will be able to earn, because later they will be able to be on the real estate market, which will be worth more, and wild construction will finally stop.
For the legalization of a 100-square-meter family house, it will be necessary to pay 5.000 dinars, for those up to 200 square meters, 15.000 dinars, and for houses over 300 square meters, it will be necessary to pay a maximum of 400 euros, explained the President of Serbia.
The attentive reader has already begun to suspect. What kind of 5.000 dinars and 400 euros, when he nicely said that with the new law, the state will only ask for 100 euros for the owner of illegal real estate to finally be registered in the cadastre?
Ten years later
And really, these are the authentic statements of the president, but - from 2015.
And then a new law was announced that will solve the problem of illegal construction, and then there was an "offer that cannot be refused", and then the Minister of Construction - admittedly, Zorana Mihajlović, not Aleksandra Sofronijević - said that "there are no more new laws on legalization" and "there will be no more extensions".
Ten years later - we are at a new beginning again.
The new law will arrange for you to register your illegal apartment for 100-1000 euros, depending on the municipality and zone in which you are located. Everything will be digitized, all you have to do is send the application, pay and there you have your apartment to enjoy - sell it, use it, put a mortgage on it...
It sounds beautiful. Finally, the poor will get ownership of their 30-50-70 square meters, they have been waiting for legalization for years, if not decades, the real estate market will finally be regulated, order will finally be established...
Again.
It won't go that fast.
This journalist had an insight into the draft of the future law. Of course, it does not necessarily mean that the law will have the same appearance as when the proposal reaches the Serbian Parliament, but from what is now on paper it seems that, to begin with, the whole story will not go as quickly as Vučić announces.
Starting with the fact that municipalities must submit the so-called "zoning plan" and at the same time marks on it all objects that meet the requirements for registration under the new law, so that - potentially - millions of new registrations should be entered into the cadastre - everything seems that the work will not be finished by the end of this year, as announced, and the end of the following years is questionable...
However, all this waving of 100 euros and talk of procedures masks other, more important issues.
Let's take their word for it.
First and foremost - why didn't you solve all this with the previous law, which had the same proclaimed goal, to stop illegal construction, and instead millions more illegal structures were created in the last 10 years (and, of course, the old cases are still not solved)?
What will be different now? Will investors close to the regime be prioritized again? Will there be abuse of the law again, all for the purpose of additional enrichment by selling off illegal apartments, built with money of unknown origin?
Let's recall that BIRN found half a million illegally legalized square meters in Belgrade alone, that is, which according to the 2015 law were not allowed to be legalized, so it was done anyway.
Who guarantees us that it won't happen again? Because the actors are (almost) the same - the mentioned Zorana Mihajlović is not here, nor is Goran Vesić anymore, but Aleksandar Vučić and Siniša Mali and Aleksandra Sofronijević are there all the time. They to guarantee that now - our mothers - everything will be different?
Conscientious fools
From now on, when the law is announced, and until the moment when the Parliament confirms it, who will prevent the owners of various monstrous "skeletons" of buildings, which are not completed, but according to the letter of the law are and will be the subject of the new law, from now building and selling the currently non-existent apartments in those buildings, so that legalization, i.e. registration in the cadastre of storage to future owners?
Why does the draft law include provisions on registration of ownership of facilities built in national parks? That's what the president said the other day, and the minister forgot to say today, Monday - ownership of apartments in the national park will be registered for 2.000 euros, and buildings larger than 200 square meters for 10.000 euros. How many of them are godfathers, relatives, friends and financiers of the organized criminal group in power?
And, finally, how long will all honest people, who want to work according to the law, want to pay all obligations and have all permits and a clean situation - how long will they turn out to be fools?
