The Chamber confirmed the amendment that will restrict the issuance of agricultural land

Prague - Today, the Chamber of Deputies again approved the amendment to the law on the State Land Office, which aims to restrict the issuance of state agricultural land. The Senate returned it to the deputies with an amended proposal that, among other things, aimed to preserve the possibility of transferring state land to municipalities for housing construction free of charge. However, the deputies rejected this proposal and approved the amendment to the law on the State Land Office in its original parliamentary wording. It will now be sent to the president for signature.

The amendment will also allow the land office to purchase and manage land that it will need for land adjustments or for the construction of highways and dams. The state currently lacks land to complete restitution, as well as for potential exchanges related to the construction of highways or flood protection dams. Therefore, the state is trying to cut off further sales of state land. Remaining restitution claimants, who can still claim up to 300,000 hectares of agricultural land, should be compensated. They are to receive around half a billion crowns.

The amendment cancels the possibility of transferring state land to the owners of adjacent plots if the transferred land does not exceed ten percent of the area of the neighboring plot, among other things, in order to maintain the state land reserve. According to the government, the practicality of this provision was negligible.

The statute will also allow gardeners to request the transfer of land under gardening and cottage settlements at a usual price, following the intervention of the Chamber of Deputies. Applications can be submitted until December 31, 2018. This relates to settlements that were established before October 1, 1976. Thus, it restores a provision that expired on December 31, 2013.

During the discussions in the Chamber of Deputies, a rule was inserted into the amendment that in the event of the cancellation of a school or educational facility established by the region, the region must prioritize offering the state land office the real estate that it previously acquired free of charge from the former Land Fund for the operation of the school.