Published on 3 January 2022

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 40026/19 Kalinka Ilieva GANCHEVA and Ivaylo Dimitrov GANCHEV against Bulgaria lodged on 20 July 2019 communicated on 9 December 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the delayed provision of compensation to the applicants for their predecessors’ property which was expropriated by the municipal authorities of Dobrich for urban development in 1983. Initially, the applicants’ predecessors were to be compensated with a flat in a building the authorities intended to construct. By a supplementary order of 3 November 2009 the mayor determined compensation with a two-room flat in another building. However, the construction of the building in question was never finalised, after in 2014 the municipal authorities cancelled a public procurement procedure for the completion of the construction works. In 2015 the applicants made an attempt to obtain another flat in compensation or financial compensation, but apparently did not pursue the procedure. They have also filed petitions to the municipal authorities, but no compensation had been provided to them by the time of lodging of the application to the Court. They complain under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and Article 13 of the Convention.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

Was the compensation procedure in the case excessively lengthy, and has this resulted in a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (see Kirilova and Others v. Bulgaria , nos. 42908/98 and 3 others, 9 June 2005; Lazarov v. Bulgaria , no. 21352/02, 22 May 2008; Antonovi v. Bulgaria , no. 20827/02, 1 October 2009)? Did the applicants have at their disposal an effective domestic remedy for their complaint under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, as required by Article 13 of the Convention? To what extent were the delays in the procedure imputable to the authorities? Could the applicants obtain another flat or financial compensation, as entitled to under domestic law, and thus bring about the conclusion of the procedure on an earlier date? In particular, could they challenge before the courts the refusal of the mayor to take the necessary action in that regard, as requested by them?

APPENDIX

No.

Applicant’s Name

Year of birth/registration

Nationality

Place of residence

1.Kalinka Ilieva GANCHEVA

1951Bulgarian

Dobrich

2.Ivaylo Dimitrov GANCHEV

1987Bulgarian

Dobrich