Compensation for failure to provide social housing – another case
The court accepted for consideration a lawsuit against the City of Poznań – Board of Communal Housing Resources for compensation for failure to provide social housing.
In the current legal state, owners of tenements who have obtained final eviction judgments against non-paying tenants cannot carry out evictions until the City of Poznań provides social housing for the tenants. In practice, the waiting time for such a property can be up to several years. According to the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Tenants’ Rights, the Housing Stock of the Municipality and Amendments to the Civil Code and other laws, the municipality is obliged to pay compensation to the owner who cannot dispose of his apartment until the municipality offers social housing for evicted tenants. This time, the law firm’s client is seeking record compensation of approx PLN 3,000 for each month of delay on the part of the City of Poznań.
The case may prove interesting due to the fact that the Constitutional Court on April 8, 2010
will hear a legal question regarding the constitutionality of art. 18 para. 5 of the Law on the Protection of Tenants’ Rights, the Housing Stock of the Municipality, and Amendments to the Civil Code. The basis of the Grudziądz District Court’s legal question was doubt as to whether it is constitutional to pass on to municipalities all the duties related to the provision of social housing without providing adequate budgetary resources. The Constitutional Court’s decision will be of great importance to a multitude of property owners in Poland. Constitutional Court press release.
[UPDATE] After a hearing, the Constitutional Court found no unconstitutionality (the Constitutional Court’s verdict), allowing property owners to continue to assert their rights in court.