Abandoned houses or tombs will be assigned to the state from January, the ombudsman points out the change

Brno - Abandoned land, houses, or tombs will belong to the state starting January, the ombudsman warns about the change. The ten-year transitional period has ended, during which owners could claim abandoned properties. The ombudsman's office informed about it today on its website.

The rules changed in 2014 with the new Civil Code, and now abandoned properties belong to the state instead of municipalities. However, the state had to wait ten years before a property could be truly considered abandoned. This ten-year protection period will end with the year. If a municipality now wishes to acquire an abandoned property, it must first document it and then officially take it into its ownership. Particularly, municipalities in the border regions, according to the ombudsman's office, are discovering that they need to organize even older records of very specific types of properties - they are beginning to address the ownership of abandoned tombs in their area.

Representatives from a city in the former Sudetenland have turned to the ombudsman with a question about how to properly handle abandoned tombs in their area, not only in relation to the new Civil Code. This is particularly concerning due to the post-war expulsion of German inhabitants, which involves the fate of several hundred tombs.

"The municipality must first determine when the tomb was abandoned. Ownership determination always follows the rules in effect at the time of abandonment," explained lawyer Marek Hanák, who is involved in the field of funerals within the ombudsman's Office. Regulations have changed several times since the establishment of Czechoslovakia, so each case must be assessed individually.

German tombs abandoned at the end of World War II may be state-owned, but from October 2005 until the end of 2013, abandoned items belonged to the municipality. These can include architecturally and historically valuable structures commemorating notable locals and personalities of community life. They form not only part of the municipality's history but can also hold practical significance."The municipality can use tombs for storing human remains, for instance, after social burials, or in cases where no one picks up an urn," added Hanák. Therefore, it is logical according to him that municipalities, as operators of most public cemeteries, would keep the tombs or at least begin to take an interest in properly managing their records.

The municipality should document the abandoned tombs, photograph them, record them in the cemetery book, and then officially take them into its ownership together with the city's property department. If the municipality finds that some of the tombs have belonged to the state, it can request them through the Office for Representation of the State in Property Affairs. Any disputes over the acquisition of ownership of abandoned properties will be resolved by civil courts.