Zagreb - On Friday, the Croatian Parliament supported by a majority vote the amendments to the Housing Provision in Assisted Areas Act, which allow earthquake victims living in container settlements or containers next to their family houses to be accommodated in state-owned apartments during the summer. 76 MPs voted in favour and one was against it.
Citizens who live in container settlements or containers next to their family houses will be accommodated in buildings that have been renovated or built with money from EU funds and the state budget, and are owned by the state.
The law expands the circle of persons who exercise the right to donation of a residential unit, such as Homeland War veterans, users who exercise the right to rent a damaged house and building materials for its repair if the house was uninhabitable, and members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Amendments to the law also extend the deadlines for the installation of donated building materials from the current 120 days to six months from the last delivery of building materials, and the right to housing for victims of domestic violence is extended for an additional two years, i.e. from two to four years.
As regards taxation, citizens who acquire ownership of buildings and apartments based on this law and citizens who acquire land for construction are equalized and will not need to pay real estate sales tax, but are required to be registered in the area where they have the property in question.
Before the vote, the parliamentary opposition walked out of the chamber, insisting that an emergency session of Parliament be called because of the six-week strike in the judiciary and the gas scandal.