STA, 3 December 2020 - The government adopted on Thursday legislation designed to crack down on fictitious registrations of residence, a widespread practice uncovered in recent months.
The amendments to the residence registration act will crack down on fictitious registrations at addresses that are not residential, or residential addresses where the size of the living quarters clearly precludes the registration of a large number of people.
This will be done in several ways, for example with the requirement that individuals may register residence only at the administrative unit where the address is located.
At each registration, the public official conducting the procedure will have to check the actual use of the building and the number of persons already registered at the address. There will be a minimum per person requirement in terms of square metres.
If the conditions for registration are not satisfied, officials will be able to reject such applications using a simplified procedure.
The legislation comes after a series of reports showed there were apartments and sometimes even commercial premises where dozens and sometimes over a hundred persons, mostly foreigners, were registered.
In the Maribor Administrative Unit alone, an internal oversight in autumn found potentially fictitious cases of residence registration involving over a thousand residents at 81 addresses, identifying 27 addresses as potentially problematic.
