Exchange and transfer of municipal property, an opportunity for local economic development

The Kosovo Local Government Institute (KLGI) organised a training session on “Granting the Use of Municipal Immovable Property”, focusing on the exchange of the municipality's immovable property and the transfer of immovable property of central institutions to municipalities.

Participants in this training session were representatives of the Directorates for Property and Urban Planning from Kosovo's municipalities and of the Ministry of Local Government Administration. The discussion compared the shortcomings of the previous Law and some ambiguities in the current Law, pending their clarification through secondary legislation on the procedures for Granting the Use and Exchange of Municipal Property.

The Law on Granting the Use of Municipal Immovable Property ensures the effective use of the municipality's immovable property for sustainable economic development and an increase in the value of property in the service of the general interest. It thus creates the possibility of exchanging property and acquiring ownership rights over properties administered by state institutions, as well as transferring ownership of properties administered by the PAK (Privatisation Agency of Kosovo) to municipal ownership.

As regards the exchange of municipal property, this is done only to secure property for the purpose of fulfilling the public interest, by initiating the procedures and meeting the conditions set for the exchange of municipal property. First of all, the municipality must ensure a valuation of the municipal immovable property that is planned for exchange, on the basis of the relevant legislation in force.

Municipalities also have the right, in the public interest, to request the transfer into their ownership of immovable property located in the territory of the municipality but administered by central institutions. In addition, the municipality must identify and describe the immovable property it is requesting to have transferred into its ownership in order to fulfil the public interest.

With the amendments to the current law on Granting the Use and Exchange of Municipal Immovable Property, it was stressed that in future this law will serve and help municipalities to implement their strategies for local economic development.

This activity was carried out within the project “Support for Stronger and More Sustainable Municipalities (SSSM)”, funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kosovo.