How much is worth a house in the way of the subway: Compensation does not always cover a new home

The expansion of the subway in Bucharest brings to the fore the most sensitive topics: expropriations. The owners say that the amounts offered by the state are too small, while the authorities invoke notarial grids and legal assessments.

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Dozens of houses and blocks on the route of the future 4 subway, between the North Station and the Progresul Station, are to be demolished. This extension brings to the fore the most sensitive topics in the foreground: expropriations. The owners say that the amounts offered by the state are too small, while the authorities invoke notarial grids and legal assessments.

“A fair compensation should reflect the real market value of a building, not a theoretical landmark”, says Toma Filipovici, a spokesman of Apair.

How the state sets the compensation

Currently, the damages are established according to the notarial grids, updated annually. They reflect minimum prices on areas and types of buildings, being used especially for notarial taxes. However, the specialists point out that this mechanism has no direct connection with the reality of the market.

Filipovici explains: “Unfortunately, in Romania there is a major lack of transparency and synchronization between the official data sources: the land book, the departments of local taxes and taxes. The trading prices are not public and cannot be verified in a unitary system, which makes the state assessments based on the notarial grids that do not reflect the real market.”

Dissatisfaction in public space

The theme lit debates including Reddit. A user writes: “It is hard to figure out how the job is without real figures, but at a small calculation it seems to be right to be very nervous and the amount seems very small.”

Another adds: “The notarial grids are used for the payment of notarial taxes, the figures are considered to be minimal than the market value.”

The dissatisfaction starts precisely from the difference between a standardized evaluation and the reality of a real estate market in which, in many areas of Bucharest, the prices have increased by over 10% only in a year.

Frustration and lack of confidence

The problem is not only financially, but also a reliable one. “This lack of transparent data supplies the frustration of the owners and vulnerabils confidence in the expropriation process”, Filipovici continues.

He proposes: “A fair solution would be for the state to relate to documented market values ​​by real transactions, registered in a public register, so that the compensation is perceived as legitimate, not as an injustice.“

When the compensation does not reach for another house

Even when the damages are calculated correctly, they do not always cover the cost of a similar home. Daniel Crainic, marketing director of Imobiliare.ro, warns: “Situations may also occur in which the value of a compensation like this does not fully cover the cost of purchasing another property, especially if it is new.”

This discrepancy hit especially in the owners in the areas where the prices of the houses have exploded. If the state offers them a fixed amount, calculated on the notarial grids, the chances of them to buy a similar house in the same neighborhood decrease.

Dissatisfaction were compared by some with harsh episodes of the past. “I remember the stories from a certain black period in the history of Romania. When some were left homeless and received a studio in place“Writes a commentator.

Such collective memories revive the idea that expropriation, even in a legal framework, risks being perceived as abuse.

Cases of court: from derisory amounts to millions of euros

Recent examples, however, show that owners can get more if they challenge in court. “I know that the A7 were paid some derisory amounts for the arable land except in the famous case in which a farmer sued, had receipts in all the investment and took its real value, 12.5 million euros”, notes another user on Reddit.

Such species confirm that, although the state initially pays amounts calculated according to grids, the courts can decide much larger damages, if the owners have clear evidence.

Between the state and the citizens

The central question remains: what does “fair” compensation mean in a real estate market where the prices are distorted and increase continuously? For the state, the predictability and uniformity are important. For the citizens, the concrete life matters: whether or not the money they receive allows them to restore a comparable home.

The extension of the subway thus becomes not only an infrastructure project, but also a test for the way the state treats private property and for the level of confidence of people in institutions.

The extension of the 4 subway bus, on the section of Gara de Nord – Progresul Station, is one of the largest urban infrastructure projects in Bucharest. The government has approved the list of buildings and lands that will be expropriated, and in total dozens of houses and blocks will be demolished to make room for the site.

Authorities say the project is essential for the mobility of the capital and for connecting the southern neighborhoods with the city center. Bus 4 is included in the list of strategic investments, and the financing comes from both European funds and from the state budget.

The dissatisfaction of the owners concerns first and foremost the amount of damages. People accuse that the amounts offered on the basis of notarial grids are “ridiculously small” and that they would not allow them to purchase similar homes in other areas. More have already announced that they will sue the state to obtain compensation closer to the real market value.

The public debate reminds other controversial cases of expropriations for major infrastructure projects. The recent examples on the A7 highway route show that, in court, the owners can obtain much greater compensation than those initially established by the evaluators.