House in the downtown. Legal proceedings between the owners and city authorities for a dwelling in historic part of Uzhgorod are lasting for years

Real estate in the center of all the city has always been under scrutiny of enterprising people. Especially when you can just take it away instead of buying it. The Panusovs family from Uzhgorod believe that that is what they want to do with them – to evict them from their own home, because some people want to see the store in their house.

Ilda Panusova said that her father had lived in the house on Zamkova street since the Soviet Union era. And before that – her grandfather. The woman said that she had spent her childhood there, then lived for a time with her mother (the parents had divorced – Auth.), and in 1993 returned to the house of her father. And since then – over 20 years – she had been living at this address.

"In 2012 – Ilda Panusova says – Uzhgorod City Council sued to evict us – they say that we have been illegally occupying the house after the death of my father in 1995. They also added in the lawsuit that the building is not considered suitable for housing."

Interestingly, Uzhgorod mayor’s office three times has filed a lawsuit against the family, and in all three cases they lost. At the last hearing, the court obliged Uzhgorod authorities to register the Panusovs family – a wife, a husband, and their two children – in the house on Zamkova st., 2.

Formally, the premises where the family lives remains the property of Uzhgorod City Council.  And, at least on paper, it is considered dangerous. In another part of the same building there are other facilities.Whether they also belong to the dangerous category is unknown. Nevertheless, Ms. Ilda said, somehow they have long been privatized. 

At a recent meeting of the executive committee, Uzhgorod Mayor Victor Pogorelov said that the Mayor’s office would comply with the judgment. But, they consider it wrong, so they would submit cassation to the Supreme Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases. The family has received a letter from the court – they have begun to consider the case.

As Ilda Panusova explained, in the Uzhgorod city district court and later in the Transcarpathian appellate court she had proved that prior to the death of her father she had lived with him in the same apartment. In particular, it was confirmed by the neighbors, and even by the nurse who was visiting her children in the 90’s. Therefore, as a member of the father’s family, she had legally inherited the house from him.

However, officials from the City Hall argue in court that she allegedly moved into the house on Zamkova street after her father’s death, which she did not have the right to do. So far, the justice is on the Panusovs family’s side. However, it is unknown how it will turn up in the end.