Vilnius municipality – complaints about land plots: they promised to return them to the people, but changed their minds about the most valuable ones

Lawyers representing the group of people who went to court say the case will be at issue in a process of restitution of property rights that has been going on for more than 30 years – essentially since Independence.

“There is no more free state land”

At the beginning of this year, the Vilnius City Municipality issued a statement in which it stated: “At the beginning of the new year, the Vilnius City Municipality put an end to the decades-long process: the design and transfer of land parcels to be returned for the restoration of ownership rights to the National Land Service has been completed. This since 1991 Completion of the ongoing process will allow smoother planning of the city’s development and ensuring the infrastructure necessary for the needs of the population.”

There is no more free state land in the Vilnius city municipality where new plots of state land could be designed to restore ownership rights to land.

“When looking for a plot of land for a new school, kindergarten, swimming pool, we often had to deal with the restitution process – first it was necessary to return to the residents the land owned by their grandparents and parents. Finally, we have completed the design of the plots to be returned and new plots for return will no longer be formed, so we will have more freedom in planning the infrastructure necessary for the residents”, – the Mayor of Vilnius City Municipality Valdas Benkunskas was quoted in the report.

Vilnius City Municipality stated that since 2018 alone, it has transferred 1,521 new plots of state land to the National Land Service, of which 1,378 are intended for individual residential construction and 143 – 169.46 ha of total area for commercial, production or industrial activities. That would be enough to restore land ownership for 2,790 inhabitants. That’s almost 2.5 times as many lots as there are on the waiting list, so people will have a choice.

“There is no more vacant state land on which new plots of state land could be designed to restore ownership rights to land in the Vilnius City Municipality,” stated the municipality’s announcement.

The list has shortened considerably

People in Vilnius still hoping to get their land back do not hide their disappointment.

According to the lawyers, the Vilnius city municipality was tasked with forming plots on vacant state land in the territory of the city of Vilnius, which would be handed over to the NŽT, so that it could offer them to applicants who have the right to receive free ownership of new land plots.

“Back in 2017-2020, the NŽT issued orders with specified plots of land that will be offered to citizens. At the beginning of 2024, the last meetings began, during which applicants are offered to choose plots from the list of land plots, but even before these meetings, it became clear that the mayor of the Vilnius City Municipality signed orders, which are the subject of the current investigation dispute, because part of the land was selectively excluded from them, completely unjustified plots.

As can be seen, those plots of land offered were the most valuable,” said the lawyers representing the people who appealed to the court.

As can be seen, those plots were the most valuable among those offered.

And the people who still haven’t got their land back talk about the situation in a simple way – in this way they are simply mocked. After all, they have already seen the list of parcels formed during the years 2017-2023 specifically for the process of restoration of property rights, but as the process is coming to an end, some of the land parcels, the most valuable, as it seems to people, have already disappeared from that list.

In this way, suspicions have already begun to float as to who these plots will eventually go to. Among the versions – that these may not be the most transparent processes. Because it is said that at the moment people have not heard a concrete answer as to why exactly those parcels have been deleted and are no longer among those to be returned.

“Currently, the position of the municipality is that there are already enough plots, the area of ​​land to be restored is larger than what is needed for all the applicants whose property must be restored. However, this does not negate the violation of the citizens’ legitimate interests,” the lawyers are convinced, asserting that the return of land in the city of Vilnius has been extremely long and a number of owners have not even reached the end of it, now their children or even grandchildren are handling the documents.

From Laurus st. to Antakalnis near Neris

The list of plots that were included but are now to be returned is very diverse, according to lawyers.

Here’s to 2019 July 1 it allegedly included a plot of 1.6 ha on Lauruų St., marked with number 13, and Žvalgaų St. 6 (2.45 ha) plot, which were deleted from that list on April 14, 2023. On the same day, plots of different sizes (from 0.09 ha to 5.84 ha) were deleted in Bagušiai, Arimų str., near S.Darius and S.Girėnos and Tūkstantmečiai str., Grigaičių, Birbynių, Kalvarijų, A.Krutulis, Servečės in the streets.

Another date when a number of plots were removed from the list to be returned was October 9 last year. Then, among those deleted, there were plots in Salininkai, Arimi, Saltoniškiu, Ateitis, Lviv, Žirmūnai, Burbiškiu streets, as well as at P.Vileišio and K.Būga streets. intersection, at the very beginning of Antakalnis near Neris (0.19 ha), near Konstitucijos Ave. and V. Nasvyčio str. (0.1519 ha) etc

The third date when plots to be returned were removed from the list was November 21 last year. At that time, these were plots at K. Bradūnas, Tabor, Tunelis, Žirnių streets. 20, Pilaitė pr., Eišiškių pl. and Mechanikau st. intersection

Municipality: everyone’s interests have to be coordinated

The Vilnius City Municipality claims that the original planned list of territories and plots was adjusted, as it tries to harmonize the public interests of all groups of society.

The initial list was adjusted in order to ensure the public interests of all groups of society – it is intended to build new schools, kindergartens, various sports, religious facilities, etc. in the excluded territories.

According to the municipality, in accordance with the Land Reform Law, in 2017, the director of the administration of the Vilnius city municipality approved by order the list of territories where new plots of state land can be designed for the restoration of ownership rights. Later, this list was revised by separate orders – it was filled with new territories and parcels, as well as some territories or parcels were deleted from the lists.

As the municipality explains, in parallel all this time the NŽT has been carrying out the procedures of restoring property rights and granting new plots of state land to citizens free of charge, so applicants have the opportunity to choose new plots of state land from the already designed and handed over to the NŽT.

“The original planned list of territories and plots was adjusted in order to ensure the public interests of all groups of society – it is intended to build new schools, kindergartens, various sports facilities (swimming pools, football fields, etc.), religious facilities, etc. in the deleted territories.

Although for the past four years the issue of restoration of property rights has been considered a priority by the Vilnius City Municipality, it should not be forgotten that state land must first be used efficiently and rationally.

The Constitutional Court has spoken out on this issue, which has stated more than once that when restoring ownership rights to preserved real estate, it is necessary to protect other values ​​enshrined in the Constitution, among others, the aspiration of an open, fair, harmonious civil society, to ensure that when restoring the ownership rights of individuals, there is no the rights and legitimate interests of other persons have been violated, the interests of the entire society, the interests of the former owners and society must be combined in the process of restoring property rights.

The municipality designed and handed over to the NŽT 2.5 times more new plots of state land than there are applicants who submitted applications, which is why they have the opportunity to choose.

It is also important to note that the Vilnius city municipality designed and handed over to the NŽT 2.5 times more new plots of state land than there are applicants who submitted applications, so they have great opportunities to choose. In addition, there are no established criteria in legal acts that would define materially more valuable parcels or territories, such a requirement is not applied when forming parcels and, in general, such a circumstance is not evaluated in the context of territorial planning”, states the Vilnius City Municipality’s comment.

The municipality clarified the situation regarding one of the above-mentioned parcels: “The land plots in the territory at Laurau street were not designed for the restoration of ownership rights, because after the design procedures started, it became clear that there are buildings registered in the Real Estate Register in the territory, for which land plots were not formed for exploitation. As a result, this area cannot be considered vacant (undeveloped) land. Accordingly, it has been delisted.”

They say they missed the answer even in court

One of the hearings regarding this situation has already taken place in court. However, as the lawyers representing the applicants to recover the land in the city of Vilnius say, the Vilnius city municipality did not answer the questions about what is expected in the specific plot, that it had to be deleted from the list to be returned.

There are more people who have gone to court for the same. About a hundred more people asked to be added to the case, where they would appear as third parties interested in the outcome of the case. However, the court did not grant such a request.