Croatian inspectors thoroughly tackled illegal constructions. In recent days, buildings have been demolished on the islands of Brač and Hvar, and already in March they started demolishing illegal constructions in Istria in the area of Umag, Rovinj and Ližnjan.
In Istria alone, inspectors issued 530 decisions on the removal of illegal constructions and 11 criminal complaints and 34 proposals for criminal prosecution in four years. They removed 158 illegal constructions and issued fines for more than 1.58 million euros.
Not a day goes by on the Croatian coast without construction machines humming, but not for construction, but for demolition. Today, in the Vruja Bay near Makarska, the demolition of seven luxury buildings, which were built by an entrepreneur from Split for 20 years, began. The demolition will take several weeks, it will cost 300,000 euros, and the owner of the black construction will get the bill.
For the locals, who have been campaigning for years to return this bay to the people, today’s start of demolition was a celebration. “We have proven that with a persistent, creative and entertaining approach, we can draw attention to a problem and fix it,” the activist told HTV Andrea Topic.
A fellow activist Bruno Fistanic so: “What is tasteless, intended for mass tourism, is leaving. We want to return the bay to the people.”
An increase in the tax on holiday homes
In the settlement District Gornji on the island Chi’s and on Thursday they started demolishing a stone house with a swimming pool, which was built by a Swedish citizen in an area where construction is not allowed, a few meters from the sea. The Swede was warned and fined several times, but nothing happened.
“The house was built completely illegal, that’s why we’re also demolishing it,” said the Chief State Inspector Andrija Mikulič.
A similar fate awaits two more houses. “This is a message to all those who are still building to stop or the inspectors will be back,said the mayor District Ivica Radić.
The announced increase in the tax on holiday homes in Croatia is also upsetting. The tax reform will allow municipalities to raise the maximum tax rate from two to five euros per square meter from January 1 next year.
This could hit the owners of holiday homes and apartments, among them more than 110,000 Slovenians, quite a bit. If the owner of a 50-square-meter apartment is now assessed a tax of a maximum of one hundred euros per year by the municipality, under the new rules this amount will be 250 euros.
Source: Rtvslo