YUROM Center from Nis with the regional council for cooperation are starting the realization of the pilot - the project legalization of 50 houses in Nis and Leskovac.
Since the enactment of the Law on Legalization of Buildings (2015) until today, very few, out of about 2 million illegal buildings, have been legalized throughout Serbia. Based on the available data, it is estimated that about 20,000 houses in Roma settlements have the status of illegal construction and that about 120,000 Roma live in them. The reasons are various, from lack of funds for legalization (tax) to ignorance of regulations, to tax evasion of the state.
The goals of the project are:
- Simpler, more efficient, faster and cheaper legalization procedure
- All illegally constructed buildings, if they meet the legal regulations, to be legalized
- To enable the owners of illegally constructed buildings to obtain legal houses that will be registered in public books, which will provide them with a higher market value, the opportunity to take a loan by mortgaging real estate
- At the same time, the owners of legal facilities will have to pay property tax, which will create conditions for better landscaping and arrangement of space, rational use of construction land and eventually, will lead to the legalization of entire Roma settlements.
