Property restitution after 1990

Property restitution is the process in which property expropriated by communist regime was returned to the previous owners or their descendants. This chapter seeks to explain the differences between the housing restitution strategies adopted by post-socialist countries, to present in-depth case studies in four countries, and to discuss the impact of property restitution on the development of the private rental sector in these countries. Explanations for differences between approaches to housing property restitution included fiscal considerations, diverse historical roots, and diverse public housing privatisation strategies. There also seems to be a link between the scale of housing property restitution and its form, and the recent size of the private rental sector and the level of its professionalization.