Decision no. WA13a/2016

Application

 

Applicant, Status

Simon B., Recommendation
Lydia M., Recommendation

Public owner

Republik Österreich
Land Oberösterreich

Type of property

immovable

Real estate in

KG Steinbach am Attersee (50320), Steinbach am Attersee, Oberösterreich | show on map

Decision

 

Number

WA13a/2016

Date

14 Jan 2016

Reason

Award of a comparable asset pursuant to Sec. 34 of the GSF Law

Type

substantive

Decision in anonymous form

Related decisions

Press release

Press Release Decision No. WA13a/2016

Upper Austria, Steinbach am Attersee

On 14 January 2016, the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution supplemented its decisions WA/RO 13/2015 and no. 1135/2015 by recommending the Republic of Austria to pay the applicant 44,400 euros as a comparable asset for a 230 m² area of Seeleiten Straße in the area Steinbach am Attersee. In addition the Arbitration Panel recommended the Province of Upper Austria to pay the applicant 600 euros as a comparable asset for a 503 m² area of the Großalm Landesstraße, which is situated in a forest.

In 1938, the property in Steinbach am Attersee, on which a villa on land bordering the lake and a modest residential house were built, was owned by Sophie B., the applicant’s grandmother. Following the Anschluss in 1938, the properties were subjected to a forced sale at auction in 1941. As Sophie B. had not filed an application for restitution after 1945, the Collection Agency A, established following the Staatsvertrag von Wien (“State Treaty of Vienna”) 1955, laid claim to the property and, in 1962, waived restitution in exchange for settlement payments from the Vöcklabruck District Commission and Rupert and Josefa W. However, several property parcels formerly belonging to Sophie B.’s property were not covered by these settlements.

The Arbitration Panel has already ruled in its decision no. 1135/2015 that a seizure had occurred as defined by the Entschädigungsfondsgesetz (“General Settlement Fund Law” – GSF Law) and recommended the restitution of an area of Sophie B.’s original property that had been owned by the Republic of Austria on the cut off day, 17 January 2001. During the process of establishing the exact dimensions of the recommended area it emerged that a further area of Sophie B.’s properties that had not been covered by the settlement of 1962 had been partitioned off in 1979 to become part of Großalm Landstraße. On 17 January 2001 this area was owned by the Province of Upper Austria. As this area also constituted publicly-owned property and all other requirements for in rem restitution were met, in its decision WA/RO 13/2015 the Arbitration Panel also recommended the Province of Upper Austria to award a comparable asset for this 503 m² area.

As both areas form part of public roads today, the Arbitration Panel did not consider in rem restitution to be feasible. Following consultations with the Republic of Austria and the Province of Upper Austria, the Arbitration Panel commissioned a report by an independent expert on the market value of the two areas. On the basis of this report the Arbitration Panel recommended that the applicant be awarded 45,000 Euro for the two areas. Pursuant to the provisions of the GSF Law the applicant must reimburse the compensation that he has already been awarded for these areas by the Claims Committee.

For use by media; not legally binding upon the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution.
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