Movable Land: Landsbergis' family and their henchmen took away the lands of the old Vilnius residents, transferring their worthless rural hectares to Vilnius. No one in Lithuania ever forgives this. For residents who have not regained their land in the cities, here is a proposal

This topic is one of the most sensitive and divisive in Lithuanian society. The so-called “movable property” or land transfer (restitution) has left a deep sense of injustice for thousands of Vilnius residents, who have been waiting for decades for the return of their ancestral land in kind, until their place was taken by “transferred” plots.

 

Here are the main aspects and possible actions:

 

Legal situation and reality

 

Restitution process: Although legally land transfer was a legal tool, in practice it often turned into abuse, when valuable land in the city was exchanged for worthless plots in the regions.

 

Constitutional Court: Back in the late 1990s and later, the court repeatedly stated that the rights of owners must be protected, but priority was often given to “state needs” or to new plots that had already been formed.

 

What can be done now?

 

Compensation in cash or forest: Since there is almost no free land left in Vilnius, the state is offering compensation. The problem is that the amounts offered often do not correspond to the market value. However, the methodology for calculating compensation has now been slightly updated.

 

Individual claims: If you have evidence that the process of returning your land was intentionally delayed or procedures were violated, you can still apply to the courts for compensation.

 

Collective appeals: There are several associations in Vilnius that unite landowners. At the same time, it is usually easier to exert political pressure on the municipality and the National Land Service (NLS).

 

Important observation

Most decision-making powers have now been transferred to municipalities. From 2024 On January 1, 2018, urban land management was transferred to the hands of municipalities, so direct dialogue with the Vilnius City Municipality Administration is a necessary step.

 

“In order to complete the restoration of citizens’ ownership rights to the remaining real estate, the parliamentarians belonging to the Lithuanian Polish Electoral Action-Christian Families Union (LLRA-KŠS) propose to provide new equivalent plots to owners who have not regained land in cities.

 

D. Dundulis, Chairman of the Board of the company “Norfos mažmena”, General Director of the company “Rivona”: practically almost half of the profit in recent years has been collected not from the purchase and sale of goods, but from other activities.

 

Members of the Seimas Česlavas Olševskis, Rita Tamašūnienė and Jaroslavas Narkevičius propose to enact such a provision in the Law on the Restoration of Citizens’ Ownership Rights to the Remaining Real Estate.

 

If the decision on the restoration of ownership rights has not been adopted or has been adopted but not yet been implemented, the draft provides that by December 31 of this year, residents who have not yet regained their property could request the transfer of an equivalent land plot for individual construction in the territory of the same municipality free of charge.

 

Thus, the draft law proposes that the former owners be provided with a final date for changing their will – December 31, 2026. According to the initiators of the amendments to the law, if they do not express their desire to receive an equivalent plot by the proposed new date, they should immediately be compensated exclusively in money. If the amendments to the law are adopted, in the opinion of the parliamentarians, fair compensation would be provided for property that cannot be returned in kind.

 

“The process of restoring ownership rights in Vilnius would be completed, giving people the opportunity to obtain a new equivalent plot of land in the city. I believe that this would avoid legal disputes that are hindering land reform. Vilnius City Municipality could sell the remaining free land at auctions and thus supplement its budget, allocating funds, for example, to defense,” said Minister of Justice, Member of the Seimas R. Tamašūnienė, commenting on the project to Elta.

 

According to her, as of January 1 of this year, ownership rights in Vilnius city have not yet been restored to 500 former owners for a total area of ​​about 700 hectares of land.

 

“One of the main reasons is that residents are not satisfied with the monetary compensation for land purchased by the state that is not returned to the city. It amounts to only 2 thousand 982 euros per 1 ha of land owned by the city,” says R. Tamašūnienė.

 

The compensation amounts to only 2 thousand 982 euros per 1 ha of land owned by the city.

 

The current law does not provide for any alternative method of compensation, except for monetary compensation, which, according to the parliamentarian, is inadequately low when considering the real market value of the unredeemed land or part of it.

 

As announced on the website of the National Land Service (NLS), 433 new plots have been formed in Vilnius for the restoration of property rights.

 

“There are only about 100 applicants for these plots. It is obvious that the plots formed for the restoration of property rights are sufficient so that other residents who have not had their property rights restored or have had their property rights partially restored so far could choose them instead of the proposed symbolic monetary compensation,” says R. Tamašūnienė.

 

By the way, new equivalent land plots are offered only to those who expressed such a will before 2003. April 1. As R. Tamašūnienė notes, not all residents could submit an application for the allocation of a plot by this date, because the process of restoring property rights in cities had not yet progressed and the applicants expected to regain their land in kind. Therefore, in their applications, they wished to restore property rights in kind.

 

“Therefore, I believe that the former owners should be allowed to choose a new equivalent land plot by December 31, 2026. They would receive more valuable property than monetary compensation and in this way the land reform in the capital will be completed. Residents who have chosen a new equivalent land plot would have no reason to appeal to the courts the decisions made by the National Land Tribunal on monetary compensation, which are currently being made against their will,” said R. Tamašunienė.

 

Currently, the law does not provide for the possibility for residents to choose an equivalent new land plot for the land they already own in the city territory, since such a request had to be submitted only by 2003. April 1.

 

It is proposed that the new provisions of the law enter into force on June 1 of this year.”