ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY THROUGH PRESCRIPTION AND ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY OF IDPs FROM KOSOVO AFTER THE 1999 CONFLICT

Abstract

The Law on Property and Other Real Rights, adopted by the Kosovo Assembly in 2009, changed the rules on acquisition by prescription by altering the requirements of bona fide and lawful possession existing under the previously applicable law. This brought the provisions regulating acquisitive prescription closer to the doctrine of adversarial possession, which enables acquisition of property irrespective of whether or not the person holding property knew that another person is the actual owner. The author argues that in the context of Kosovo, where the post-conflict property restitution is far from being complete and the illegal occupation of immovable property belonging to internally displaced persons (IDPs) is widespread, these changes of the doctrine of acquisitive prescription could run contrary to a number of international and domestic human rights norms.