Some residents of the Subcetate neighborhood in Arad might have to pay a fee to be able to get to their own homes, as someone is asking them to pay rent to use a street in the district, claiming that the street is private property. The residents blame City Hall for the issue, as it didn’t buy the infrastructure of the newly built neighborhood after the developer went bankrupt, but it did assist in the sale of the remaining land during the insolvency proceedings.
“Private property. Property under land registration. Residents interested in access-rent may send their request to the following e-mail address: acces.subcetate@gmail.com, mentioning the type of housing (house or apartment), the number of people and the number of cars,” says the sign that appeared next to the roundabout at the entrance to the Casarom area, at Diogene Street.
According to the sign, people living in houses here have to pay EUR 450 fee a month to use the street. This price is equal to rent in the best areas of the city, while people living in a three-bedroom apartment pay EUR 180, and residents living in a two-room apartment pay EUR 120 per month. The price includes access for three people and one car. However, neither the name nor phone number for the person asking for rent appears on the sign. Local newspaper aradon.ro has sent an email to the abovementioned address, but they didn’t receive any answer.
According to aradon.ro, the residents are shocked and blame City Hall, as after the Casarom area was finished and the developer went bankrupt, it did not take over the infrastructure. Thus, during the insolvency proceedings, all pieces of land still owned by Casarom, including streets, were sold, since they appeared in the land registry as land available for construction. So, Diogene Street became private property, whose owner can now make various claims.
“How can anything like this happen?! According to the law, access to property has to be guaranteed. Why should we pay some exorbitant fee to get home? The City Hall is responsible for all of this and we will sue,” a resident told aradon.ro.
The inhabitants want to force City Hall to take over the infrastructure through expropriation, which is their only legal option left. The residents also blame the local administration for passively assisting in the sale of the infrastructure, approved by PUZ – urban zone plan – at the same time it accepted the construction of the homes here.
But the residents of the Casarom area, approximately 100 families, face another problem as well: The land on which the roundabout is located – from which they can enter Diogene Street to get home – is also private property. The owner of it announced in 2018 that he wishes to build an apartment building right in that intersection. The building would have three plus one smaller floors, while on the ground floor there would be commercial spaces. Next to the apartment building, the owner would build three other houses, as the total area that he owns is 3,268 square meters.
As aradon.ro says, the editorial staff asked the representatives of City Hall in 2018 why it did not take over the infrastructure of Casarom, but City Hall never answered their questions. The representatives said that they would document the problem and come back with details, which also did not happen. Aradon.ro got the same answer regarding their questions about the issue on Diogene Street.
In the Subcetate neighborhood, Casarom was supposed to build hundreds of villas on 60 hectares between Diogene Street and the entrance to Kisszentmiklós (Sânicolau Mic), an area received from the city for a symbolic price. Because the company did not keep its commitments, the municipality recovered 30 hectares of the land, which had been given by the administration led by former Mayor Dorel Popa.
Title image: Casarom company received the 60-hectare piece of land from the city for a symbolic price to build a new neighborhood. Photo: arad-apartamente.ro
