Can you imagine buying a mobile home with your hard-earned money, only to later be forced into eviction, which should happen in a matter of days, and at your own expense? This is exactly what has happened to Slovenian citizens in Croatia, who are the victims of a deceitful game played by a well-known hotel chain in Croatia.
They paid for their mobile homes fairly, they had to comply with inhumane conditions demanded of them by a well-known hotel chain in Croatia, and now they are being evicted on the basis of contracts that are incompatible with good business practices or even hint at business fraud. One of their defenders is Dr Miha Pogačnik, an international lawyer, who believes that this is a deceitful act, but that the chain’s aim is to “illegally convert a camp of mobile homes into a dispersed fixed hotel where they will own everything.”
Slovenian citizens bought the mobile homes under the instructions and exclusive wishes of the previous owner and concluded multi-year land lease contracts, fulfilling all the conditions of the previous owner and, in addition, of the new owner, who imposed time limits on the use of the mobile homes, the number of guests and the conditions imposed on the layout of the mobile homes and the environment. It should be borne in mind that Slovenians spend a considerable amount of time in Croatia and also contribute a great deal to the Croatian coffers with their tourism.
“They have been madly pressured with some unreasonably demanding conditions, such as not being allowed to stay in the campsite for more than a certain period of time, not even in winter; the prices are the same as for a yacht in a marina, they have been banned from subletting, even though they own the property. They are the owners of the houses, but the hotels are renting out the land,” lawyer Pogačnik explained, adding that he was also unclear on what basis the hotel group Aminess was renting out the land when it was actually state-owned. More than anything else, this is a battle between the little man and the group, as these owners are individuals who saw no choice but to submit to a large company in some way.
They will be fined 150 euros a day
The mobile homes were used without any problems, the rules were respected, and when the contract expired in 2023, the parties were offered a new contract for 2024, which contains clauses relating to the eviction of around 114 private mobile homes under threat of eviction. If they do not move out, they would have to pay a penalty of 150 euros per day, with the creation of a lien on these houses for transport costs, accommodation, etc. However, the occupants are not able to move out of their houses within eight days, despite their wish to do so, because it is a logistical and technical problem, as all the houses are connected to the municipal infrastructure, and it is simply not possible to do so, especially not in such a short time. Even though some of them almost agreed to do it, they soon realised that it was also physically impossible, as the accessibility of the crane would have meant that those before them would also have to move out, and the houses stand in different locations.
Previously known as Hoteli Njivice, the new ownership was officially launched in 2020 under the brand Aminess, which has been on the market for many years. Today, the company Aminess d.d. operates a total of 14 hotels, 5 campsites and 3 resorts with villas and apartments under the Aminess Hotels & Resorts brand in some of the most attractive destinations on the Adriatic – Istria, the islands of Krk and Pag, Makarska, the island of Korčula, and the Pelješac peninsula.
The company is majority owned by Auctor kapital d.o.o. from Zagreb and the director is Oleg Uskoković, who is also a well-known lawyer, which only makes the case even more controversial.
Pogačnik: “This is an example of bending the rules of the planning and building legislation”
“They have also given them the right of first refusal if anything new happens, that they are the “first to buy” or the first option, but they are now being scolded for that as well – why? First, they justified their position on the basis of the zoning conditions, i.e. by reducing the capacity of the campsite by 25 percent and raising the new quality of the campsite to 5 stars,” explained Pogačnik, who has nothing against the development, but adds that in this case, there is a clear bending of the rules of building and zoning legislation happening. “There won’t even be a campsite anymore, they’ll make a separate hotel […] it won’t be a campsite after that,” he added.
Are they renting out land that is not theirs?
In light of this, they are using the interpretation that mobile homes are not constructed buildings, even though they and the newly built swimming pools will be permanently connected to the land through the utilities infrastructure. This is clearly an evasion of the mandatory rules on building permits, as the new tourist resort requires a completely different urban and architectural approach. It should be noted that the land is almost 100-percent owned by the Republic of Croatia and that there are regulations obliging camping tourism service providers to have appropriate contracts in place for the use or lease of the land. The situation to which many users are being pushed, many of whom have been there for more than ten years, is contrary to the Consumer Protection Act as well as to the principles of contract law, but it is a situation which Pogačnik believes will occur elsewhere, as this is a large hotel chain.
It seems that the group’s plan was to sell the mobile homes to people for lots of money, literally rip them off for ten years – in light of which Pogačnik also pointed out that the rent for a mobile home can be up to 8 thousand euros a year – and they themselves set inhumane rules, and now they want to throw out the people who complied with the rules – and do it at their expense. The irony of this is that the President of the Management Board of the hotel chain, Zrinka Bokulić, told the media outlet Slobodna Dalmacija that “the recipe for their success is a friendly attitude towards every guest, employee and the community in which they operate,” which is the complete opposite of the way they treat Slovenian citizens, who have now found themselves in a terrible situation.
Tanja Brkić
