Chrastava has turned to the court over the demolition of the dilapidated Kováku

Chrastava - The town of Chrastava has turned to the Supreme Administrative Court regarding the demolition of the dilapidated Kovák hostel. The town hall has been trying unsuccessfully for five years to demolish the building. The local building authority has ordered the demolition of the long-unused structure three times, but the Regional Authority in Liberec has always overturned the decision. The town hall now hopes that the Supreme Administrative Court will resolve the deadlock. Chrastava mayor Michael Canov (Mayors for Liberec Region) said this to ČTK today.

"I hope that the Supreme Administrative Court will decide in such a way that the matter must be resolved, that what the regional office is doing cannot continue, that they keep sending the issue back and forth, and it has never been concluded," Canov said. The town hall wants the dilapidated and seven-year-vacant building to disappear, fearing that the crumbling structure could seriously injure or even kill someone. According to the latest decision of the regional officials, however, it is sufficient to break out the defective parts, such as the filling walls, and leave the basic skeleton, which can be used. Canov says this is nonsense.

The Kovák hostel was built in the 1970s for apprentices of the then Chrastava plant Elitex. In the mid-1990s, the building was acquired by Prague businessman Radim Urban and transformed into a hostel. Up to 200 people stayed there, although the capacity was not even half that. Due to inadequate conditions, the building had to be vacated at the beginning of 2010. The owner then attempted to sell it unsuccessfully. Two years ago, he came up with a project to convert the dilapidated house into small apartments. However, the representatives rejected the project worth 27 million crowns. They do not believe that another hostel would not be established there again.

The mayor admits that there is no immediate danger of the building collapsing. "The building authority must order demolition even if the house is in such a condition that it endangers the health or lives of people or animals if the owner does not remove the defects within the specified time," Canov stated. According to him, the building is dangerous, which was confirmed by an expert opinion. The condition of the house is deteriorating, and the owner is doing nothing about it. The town hall is prepared to secure the demolition itself, similar to how three years ago it had the dilapidated cultural house demolished. In such a case, it would seek to recover the costs from the owner in court.

However, according to regional officials, the legal conditions for ordering the removal of the building have not been met. "The building authority in Chrastava did not prove in its decision that the entire building is in such a defective condition that it must be completely removed. According to the expert opinion, the building is not defective as a whole; only its parts are defective," said Markéta Dědková, spokesperson for the regional office, to ČTK. According to her, it cannot be argued that removing the defective parts is uneconomical for the owner of the building, and therefore ordering the complete removal of the entire structure is justified. The municipality could consider this if it were about its property, but not in the case of privately owned property.