Business premises in Stari Grad: 37 tenants evicted for non-payment of rent

Business premises managed by the Municipality of Stari Grad are the most significant economic resource, and in the period from 2009 to 2016, KM 54,310,025 (including VAT) was collected from rent for business premises, writes the Patria agency.

However, the biggest problem is the ingrained indiscipline of tenants regarding the fulfillment of contractual obligations, i.e., irregular payment of rent for the business premises they use. The legal framework, which provided for court proceedings and eviction of tenants for debt collection until mid-2015, contributed to this fact, but these disputes lasted for years and most often resulted in the inability to collect the debt. At the request and initiative of the Municipality of Stari Grad, the Sarajevo Canton Assembly adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on Renting Business Buildings and Premises on 07.10.2015. With the entry into force of this Law, the Municipality finally gained the possibility and instrument (eviction from business premises) to introduce order and force certain tenants to start respecting the provisions of the signed contracts.

Thus, in 2016, 22 tenants were evicted, 35 debt assumption agreements were concluded, and 40 agreements on payment of debt in installments were concluded.

In the period from January to mid-May, 15 business premises were evicted, 13 debt assumption agreements were concluded and paid, as well as 55 agreements on payment of debt in installments that were signed or in the process of being signed. However, the priority for the Municipality of Stari Grad is the collection of receivables, while eviction is the last resort that precedes lengthy court proceedings for debt collection, which are usually highly uncertain.

At the next session of the Municipal Council Stari Grad, the debts of business premises users will be discussed.