The deadline to apply for legalization of unlawfully built homes or facilities expires on Thursday. The deadline was already prolonged once and this Thursday is expected to be the last chance for owners of homes built without all the necessary permits to apply to have them legalized.
The program began in 2011, with the aim to enter an estimated third of all housing and real-estate stock in Macedonia into the Cadastre register. Due to arcane construction rules and bureaucratic red tape, it's believed that hundreds of thousands of homes were built or expanded without permits, and were therefore not fully protected under the law. These homes could not be used as collateral, and were often sold and huge discounts below the market price.
A total of 147,000 unlawfully built homes were legalized since the beginning of the process. Some 360,000 applications have been submitted so far.
The deadline also applies to companies that want to legalize their infrastructure facilities, including cables, water lines and other facilities. Persons and companies that meet the deadline to apply for legalization, then have until the end of the year to prepare documents showing they are not intruding on someone else's land and that they object fits in the spatial plans.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Vlado Misajlovski informed that low income citizens will be able to apply to have the spatial plans prepared free of charge. Misajlovski said that 5.300 applicants have already used this opportunity.