Supreme Court: State obliged to pay 1.500 euros due to the length of the property restitution proceedings in Valdanos

The Supreme Court of Montenegro has issued a verdict partially accepting the claim of NR due to, as they stated, a violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time in the administrative proceedings conducted before the Real Estate Administration - Ulcinj Regional Unit, upon the request for the return of property and acquisition of ownership rights to property seized in Valdanos Bay, and obliged the state to pay it 1.500 euros and court costs, the court announced.

The Supreme Court pointed out that the plaintiff, as the legal heir, filed a request for the return of the property in September 2021, and that, after the first-instance body rejected the request, an appeal was filed in December of the same year, and in March 2022, the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare annulled the first-instance decision and returned the case for retrial.

"In October 2024, the Real Estate Administration issued a decision to merge the proceedings, while the proceedings had not been completed even at the time of filing the lawsuit for just satisfaction in April 2026. The Supreme Court determined that the relevant period for assessing the duration of the proceedings began at the end of December 2021, when the appeal against the first-instance decision was filed, and that it lasted four years, three months and seventeen days until the filing of the lawsuit, with the administrative proceedings still ongoing. Assessing the circumstances of the specific case, the Court concluded that the case was not complex in either a factual or legal sense, that the plaintiff did not contribute to the length of the proceedings, but rather repeatedly urged their acceleration, and that there was an undoubted interest on the part of the plaintiff in completing the proceedings within a reasonable time in order to eliminate her uncertainty regarding the outcome of the dispute," they said.

They add that the court specifically pointed out the passivity of the competent administrative body, especially the fact that it took more than two years to make a decision to join the proceedings, as well as the failure of the hired geodetic expert to act, which further contributed to the unjustifiably long duration of the proceedings.

Referring to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court recalled that the right to a trial within a reasonable time also applies to administrative proceedings affecting the property rights of individuals, and that when assessing the reasonableness of the duration of the proceedings, the complexity of the case, the conduct of the parties and the competent authorities, as well as the importance of the case for the applicant are taken into account. The Court also pointed to the position of the European Court that state authorities are responsible for the efficient conduct of the proceedings and for the work of experts engaged in those proceedings.

"Finding that the total duration of the proceedings did not meet the requirement of a reasonable time, the Supreme Court determined a violation of the plaintiff's right to a trial within a reasonable time and obliged the state of Montenegro to pay her 1.500 euros in compensation for non-pecuniary damage with statutory default interest from the date of the verdict until final payment, as well as 181,50 euros in costs of the proceedings. The claim for more than the awarded amount was rejected as unfounded," they announced.

"We note that in March this year, the Supreme Court of Montenegro also partially accepted an identical claim by another heir of the same property in Valdanos Bay, finding that in that case, too, the right to a trial within a reasonable time was violated in the same administrative procedure, and awarded the plaintiff fair compensation," they conclude in the statement.