The new provisions of the Land Code come into force on April 1. The local authorities will be able to lease out land that has not been cultivated by owners for two consecutive years, IPN reports.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, if an agricultural lot is not properly maintained for more than two consecutive years, the local authorities will send a written summons to the owner. If the owner is not to be found, the mayor’s office will be able to lease out the land temporarily, for being used for agricultural purposes.

If the land adjoins only one property, the mayor’s office will be able to negotiate directly with the neighbor interested in cultivating it. Otherwise, the land will be put up for public tender contest so that anyone who wants to rent it can do so legally and transparently.

The tender contest will be organized by a special commission of the mayor’s office, made up of employees of the institution and will be publicly announced at least 15 days before the event.

After the winner of the tender contest is chosen, the land will be transmitted through an official receipt-handover document to the lessee and this can start to cultivate it.

The duration of the lease will be agreed by the mayor’s office and the lessee, which will be a minimum of one year and at most five years. The amount paid by the lessee for the use of the land will be kept at the mayor’s office in a special account.

The owner will be able to recover the land at any time, by a simple written declaration. At that moment, the lease ends immediately and the collected rent goes to the owner, after withholding the administrative costs incurred by the mayor’s office for this procedure.

"The owner is not dispossessed of his land. They still remain the legal owner of the land, and the leasing out is only a temporary measure meant to prevent land degradation and to protect the neighbors," noted the Ministry of Agriculture.