Split of buildings and land still burdens thousands in Latvia

Gunārs Kusiņš, a former judge, looked back at the early 1990s while discussing how Latvia kept legal continuity after independence. He said the right sequence was to return property to former owners first and only afterwards begin privatisation.

He called the artificial separation of ownership of buildings from ownership of land the greatest mistake of that period. Decisions taken because time was short allowed divided property even though it ran against the Civil Law. He said that arrangement became a long-term burden for thousands of residents and still has severe consequences.