Nord Europa Grapples with Housing Security as Eviction Cases Rise

Marjeta Kovács sits in the kitchen of her apartment in a Bratislava-Nova workers' district, a neighbourhood that has transformed in the past five years from industrial-era housing to a destination for young tech workers. She has lived here for thirty-four years, since the apartment was assigned to her through the regional cooperative housing system. Last month, she received notice that her building had been purchased by a development firm and that her lease would not be renewed when it expired in six months. She is seventy-two years old and her pension is 1,200 florins monthly. The region's median rent has risen to 900 florins for a one-bedroom apartment.

Her situation is not singular. The Nord Europa Assembly's Social Affairs Committee received seventeen formal complaints about displacement cases in the past six months—a figure that has drawn the attention of regional media, civil-society organisations, and at least two Assembly members who have begun drafting stronger tenant-protection legislation. The cases share a pattern: older residents, fixed incomes, buildings acquired by development firms seeking to renovate and re-lease at market rates. The legal framework governing such transitions is minimal. Regional law requires sixty days' notice but imposes no restrictions on non-renewal of leases or protections for long-term residents.

The proposal under discussion would require landlords to offer renewal terms to tenants who have occupied a property for more than twenty years, unless the landlord can demonstrate intent to occupy the space personally or convert it to non-residential use. It would also require a transition period of at least twelve months for any non-renewal, with mandatory mediation through a regional housing authority. The draft legislation is not yet formally filed with the Assembly, but it has been circulated among the Social Affairs Committee and has drawn both support and opposition.