Dispersed privatization of council housing: Some structural effects in the municipal housing stock in Olsztyn, Poland

Council (public) housing privatization, as the basic instrument for transforming housing systems, has significantly affected the tenure structure and created millions of new owners across Europe. In Poland, the concept of the dispersed privatization was adopted and implemented in the long term primarily through preferential sales of council dwellings from the municipal housing stock to sitting tenants. The aim of the study was to analyze the effects of the dispersed privatization of municipal dwellings in the spatial and ownership structure of the municipal housing stock of the city of Olsztyn in Poland. The results showed that poorly controlled processes of the dispersed privatization of municipal housing caused unfavorable structural effects in the surveyed housing stock. The stock has shrunk significantly, losing buildings in better locations and conditions and the undesired fragmentation of municipal ownership and its mixing with private ownership has increased. The results and proposals are important to other cities and countries facing the challenge of slow privatization of public housing.

A hectare of development and opportunities

The article analyzes the regulatory and legal framework for the implementation of the program providing citizens with land plots from the state or municipal ownership and located in the territories of the subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as in the Far Eastern Federal District, or included in the program "Socio-economic development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation".

On the relevance of improving legal regulation of the turnover of shares in the right of common ownership of the agricultural land plots from

This article explores the problem of regulation of the turnover of shares in the right of common ownership of land plots of agricultural designation. The author substantiates the relevance of improving the current legislation, first and foremost due to annual increase in the number of unclaimed shares of agricultural lands and the impossibility of their use in civil circulation. Analysis is conducted on the existing procedure of recognizing the land shares unclaimed and their transfer to municipal ownership, indicating its inefficiency. The article considers a proposal on the amendment of civil and land legislation with regards to simplification of the grounds for transferring such objects to municipal ownership via their possible recognition as unowned property, changing the procedure for transferring such shares to municipal ownership, as well as specifying the grounds for terminating the ownership right of the subjects to unclaimed land shares in the right of common ownership of land plots of agricultural designation. The article analyzes criticism of the experts towards such initiative, objections against possible application of the Article 225 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation to subjective rights, since it contradicts the existing concept that allows usage of rules on acquisition of the unowned property only to physical objects, as well as potential extension of the rules on terminating the property ownership. which cannot belong to an individual, in cases when the share holder in the right of common ownership on the unleased land plot of agricultural designation, would not allocate a plot assigned to him within a certain period of time.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, PROFESSIONAL STATUS AND QUALIFICATION OF DENTAL TECHNICIANS IN BULGARIA

The profession of "dental technician" appeared relatively late. The first dental technicians were trained by dentists and worked for them. Gradually, they separated as master owners of the studios and began to hire and train apprentices and journeymen. This time has long been forgotten. After 1997, a dental technician became a person who acquired the right to practice the profession after three years of college education. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the profession began with private initiative, passed through state and municipal ownership of dental laboratories, in order to return, for the most part, back to private initiative. Our goal is to study and present demographic characteristics, professional status and qualifications of practitioners in the specialty. To achieve this goal, we studied literature sources, regulations and conducted a sociological survey involving 360 dental technicians. The respondents are from 25 regional colleges of the Bulgarian Association of Dental Technicians, from which we received permission to hold it. We found that the class is relatively aging, which is in line with the demographic problems in our country and in the countries of the European Union. The profession is dominated by men, managers of dental laboratories, who for the most part are registered as Independent Medical and Technical Laboratories. A relatively large number of dental technicians periodically attend postgraduate courses to meet the ever-increasing demands of dentists and patients.

Trademark Ownership by the Local Government of the Special Region of Yogyakarta: A Model for Municipal Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights

This article aims at elaborating the trademark ownership by the local government in Yogyakarta. As an effort to leverage the region’s historical status in order to add value to products made in this region, the Special Region of Yogyakarta (the “DIY” or the “DIY Government”) has registered its trademarks like “Jogjamark” and “100% Jogja.” However, there remains a question as to wether the DIY Government have the same rights and obligations concerning intellectual property as private entities, as longa a municipal government is concerned. Generally, a public legal entity is subject to the same laws, with both rights and obligations, as any other legal entity. In this context, the local government of the DIY’s registration of these marks clearly confirms that the Local Government of the DIY is the trademark owner of those trademarks. This registration requires the question as to whether this government entity can legally own registered trademarks or not. In addition, even if the registration is legal, to what extent can the local government use and protect its intellectual property? This paper will address these two issues through an empirical research study, and determines that as a legal entity, the local government can and should own trademarks for the benefit of its population.

The Economic Basis of Local Self-Government as a Municipal Law Institution

The article analyzes the concept and elements of the economic basis of local self-government as a municipal law institution including provisions of laws and bylaws inter alia municipal ones regulating public relationships concerning exercising of owner’s authorities by a municipal institution in respect of the property in municipal ownership, local budget funds and property rights.

Ways of commercialization of agricultural land

The paper analyzes the ways of commercialization of agricultural land in the Krasnodar Krai. The same mechanism of supply and demand operates in the land market as in all other markets. The main factors of stabilization and growth of demand are considered. The dynamics of changes in the average indicators of agricultural land lease is presented. Proposals have been made for the enforcement of the rights of municipalities to register huge areas of ownerless, uncultivated agricultural land in shared ownership under municipal ownership in order to involve them in civil commerce, to increase local budget revenues from the use of these lands.

Re-collecting Cypriot antiquity

Formed by the Kent family – farmers and landowners from the north of England – the little-known Kent collection brought together antiquities from Greece, Rome, Egypt and Cyprus, alongside weapons, armour, furniture and textiles. On the death of Benjamin Kent in 1968, most of the collection was bequeathed to the Harrogate Corporation, sparking debate on the value of such heterogeneous collections for general public audiences. This article investigates the collection’s history, examining the practices that formed it, the quasi-museum setting of the Kent family home, and the collection’s display following its transfer to municipal ownership. We focus on the ancient Cypriot objects, some of which can be traced to Thomas Backhouse Sandwith, British vice-consul on Cyprus from 1865 to 1870 and an important figure in the early collecting of Cypriot antiquities in the UK. Through this exploration, we consider how histories of collections, especially smaller-scale collections of private individuals, can re-contextualize objects and enrich their interpretation.

ISSUES OF IMPROVEMENT OF LAND TURNOVER FROM AGRICULTURAL LAND COMPOSITION

One of the factors hindering the further development of agricultural enterprises of various legal forms is the imperfection of land legislation. Land plots that are in state or municipal ownership, when leased or owned through auctions, are not always given to peasant (farmer) households or agricultural enterprises that need them for production. This is due to the high transaction costs, which are caused by the need to form, register for cadastral registration and registration of rights to land, as well as the costs of holding auctions to provide them. Moreover, as a result of tenders at such auctions, rental payments are often overstated due to unfair competition from participants who do not carry out agricultural activities. Relations between agricultural producers and state and municipal executive authorities on the ownership, use and disposal of land from the category of agricultural land, including state or municipal property, are regulated by the Federal Law “On the Turnover of Agricultural Land”. A number of its provisions do not facilitate the transfer of agricultural land to effective owners - agricultural producers. On the other hand, the low efficiency of agricultural production, due to objective and subjective reasons, does not allow to set the rent at a level of interest to owners of land shares. It is necessary at the level of the ministries of land and property relations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to develop Regulations on holding auctions for the sale of agricultural land in ownership or lease rights on them, which should reflect the criteria for participants in such auctions. The lease payment for lands in shared ownership shall be at least 3% of the cash proceeds from 1 ha.

Establishment and development of the institution of municipal land ownership

This article is dedicated to analysis of the processes of establishment and development of the institution of municipal land ownership. Analysis is conducted on the mechanisms of mediation of municipal land ownership as the legal institution of the unified system of distributed over time historical-legal, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical factors of its emergence and evolution, which being interrelated and interdependent formed the fundamental requirements to legal regulation of this legal institutions, as well as determines the vector of its development. The authors believe that establishment and development of the institution of municipal land ownership in the Russian Federation has passed several historic stages, mediated by the unified system of distributed over time historical-legal, socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions of the emergence and development of the institution of municipal land ownership in Russia. In the authors’ opinion, further development of municipal ownership law in the Russian Federation requires comprehensive modernization and improvements of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, current legislation, including numerous decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, Government of the Russian Federation, as well as other federal and regional government branches, local self-governance, case law of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts of the Russian Federation.