Perpetual usufruct

Z Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej

PERPETUAL USUFRUCT – a property law, indirect between proprietorial law and limited property rights. It consists in putting a parcel of land that is owned by the State Treasury, voivodship, county or municipality or a union of these units into use for a natural or legal person for a specified period of 99 years (exceptionally shorter, but not less than 40 years). It mainly concerns the land located within the administrative boundaries of cities. P.u. is strongly similar to the right of ownership, but it is not identical with it. The doctrine does not explicitly specify the nature of this legal structure, due to its unusual nature. The provisions not included in the codes on the p.u. concern mainly the use of land of the State Treasury and of local-government units as a form of managing these real estates. P.u. is a law that charges the land (property) which is an independent object of ownership. Therefore, one cannot establish the p.u. on the share in ownership if the property is the subject of co-ownership, and at least one of the co-owners is not the State Treasury or a local-government unit. Until 1989, p.u. was practically the only opportunity to acquire state lands in cities [ E. Zielińska ].

Literature: J. Ignatowicz, K. Stefaniuk, Prawo rzeczowe [Property law], Warszawa 2012.

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