North Macedonia extends deadline for housing buyout requests to December 31, 2027

The Government has proposed changes to the Law on Housing that would give hundreds of families a new chance to regularize long-standing residential arrangements in state and former socially owned apartments by extending deadlines and creating income-based categories that determine whether residents may rent under favourable terms or buy their flats outright.

Key change: new deadline and income categories

Under the draft law submitted to the Assembly for consideration under an expedited procedure, the window to file requests for buyout, transfer of the right of use or tenancy of these apartments would be extended to 31 December 2027. The text explicitly states the new deadline and the obligation for current holders of usage rights who missed earlier deadlines.

Translated from the draft: "The holder of the right to use the apartment, who did not submit a request for buyout, that is, a request for transfer of the right to use the apartment to the authority responsible for housing and communal affairs by 31 December 2024, is obliged to submit a request for buyout of the apartment, that is, a request for transfer of the right to use the apartment to the authority responsible for housing and communal affairs by 31 December 2027."

The proposal affects people who have lived for years or decades in dwellings allocated on various grounds — expropriation, demolition of previous buildings, or because their former homes were ruined and unsafe. Many users, or members of their households who continued to use the flats after the original occupant’s death, did not use the previous statutory windows that expired at the end of 2024; some lacked a legal possibility to file before.

The most significant innovation is a mandatory categorization of residents according to household income: persons in social risk, low-income, average-income and high-income groups. This classification determines the route for resolving each household’s housing status. Those classified as "persons in social risk" will have the right to lease the apartment under favourable conditions, while the other three groups — low-, average- and high-income — will be eligible to buy the residential space directly.

As the draft spells out: "Article 5 provides that users of apartments in social ownership classified as 'persons in social risk' shall exercise the right to lease the apartment."

"Article 6 provides that users of apartments in social ownership in the categories low-income, average-income and high-income shall exercise the right to buy the apartment."

"Article 7 provides that persons who have concluded lease contracts under Article 5 paragraph (9) of the draft law with the legal entity have the right to submit a request for buyout of the apartment in accordance with Article 6 of this draft."

The draft also creates a legal path allowing those who first enter into lease agreements with the competent legal body to later request full purchase, thereby completing the privatisation of this housing stock. It includes provisions to equalise access for citizens holding acts or temporary-use agreements issued before 16 May 1998.

In addition to the social and legal mechanisms, the amendments contain technical corrections to several articles of the existing law. The proposer argues the text is not extensive or complicated and therefore asks the Assembly to adopt it under a shortened procedure so the new deadline can take effect promptly and remove administrative obstacles for citizens.

Photo: press material from the event