The time to estimate the compensation of expropriated land should be the closest possible to the payment of the compensation to the beneficiaries
JUDGMENT
Πουλημένος and others v. Greece 20-07-2017 (no. 41230/12)
SUMMARY
Calculation of the value of an expropriated property. Time and method of calculation. The case concerned the calculation of the definitive amount of compensation for the expropriation of a plot, and in particular the determination of the date taken into account for calculating the amount of compensation. The selected date determines whether or not to take into account the increase in land value that forms the basis for calculating the compensation.
According to the ECtHR, the Greek courts, by choosing the date of calculating the value of the expropriated property on the date of the first hearing of the case at the Court of First Instance (9.11.1999), ignored any discrepancy that might exist between the value of the applicants’ claim on that date and that of the date on which they agreed with the final price (18.01.2012).
The European Court of Human Rights has held that there has been a violation of Article 1 of the First Protocol, since the date of calculating the final unit price of the expropriated property must be the closest to the payment of the compensation to the beneficiaries, in order for the compensation to be ‘complete’.
COMMENT
An important decision on how long the courts should calculate the value of the expropriated property in order to determine the compensation of the beneficiaries. This should be the closest to the payment of the compensation to the beneficiaries, so that the compensation is “complete”.
PROVISION
Article 1 of Protocol 1
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicants, Iraklis Poulimenos, Konstantina Poulimenou, Stavroula Poulimenou, Panagiotis Theodorakopoulos, Ekaterini Theodorakopoulou and Elpida Theodorakopoulou, are Greek nationals who were born in 1947, 1951, 1946, 1946, 1978 and 1981 respectively and live in Kalamata, Corinthia and Athens.
The case concerned the calculation of the final amount of compensation for the expropriation of a plot of land, and in particular the determination of the date of the hearing taken as the reference point for calculating that amount. The date chosen determines whether or not account can be taken of an increase in the value of the land that forms the basis for calculation of the compensation.
Several decrees issued in 1959, 1960 and 1962 ordered the expropriation of land located in Elliniko belonging to the applicants’ father.
On 30 November 1997, following the death of their father, the applicants applied to the Athens Court of First Instance for determination of the provisional amount of compensation. On 31 August 1998 the court assessed the provisional amount at 90,000 drachmas (approximately 264 euros (EUR)) per square metre. On 28 April 1999 the applicants applied to the Court of First Instance for determination of the final amount of expropriation compensation. On 24 January 2005 the court took the date of the judgment concerning the provisional amount as its reference point, assessing the amount at EUR 320 per square metre. On 28 April 2005 the applicants appealed, seeking to have the amount of compensation determined by reference to the date of the appeal hearing, in view of the increase in the value of the land between the first-instance judgment and the appeal.
On 29 December 2006 the Athens Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as inadmissible on the grounds that a decision already existed determining the amount of compensation. On 5 April 2007 the applicants appealed on points of law. The Court of Cassation dismissed their appeal on 28 April 2009, on the same grounds as the Court of Appeal. On 31 August 2009 the applicants re-submitted their appeal, arguing that there had been a substantial increase in the value of the property. On 18 January 2012, following a change in the caselaw, the Court of Appeal held that the date of the first hearing determining the final amount of compensation should be used for the purposes of assessing that amount. It assessed the amount at EUR 420 per square metre.
Relying on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention (protection of property), the applicants complained of the fact that the court had calculated the value of the land on the basis of a date very far removed from the date of the hearing to determine the final amount of compensation for expropriation of the land. In their view, this had resulted in a lowering of the estimated value of the land and of the corresponding compensation.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1
Just satisfaction: EUR 39,150 (pecuniary damage) and EUR 2,000 (non-pecuniary damage) to the applicants jointly(echrcaselaw.com editing).
