Trepca has given users of several properties in northern Kosovo 10 days to vacate premises that the mining company says belong to it, opening a new property dispute in a region where ownership records and the legal status of company assets remain complex. While the notices seen by KoSSev concern commercial premises, questions are also emerging over residential buildings in Zvečan/Zveçan located on some of the affected land.
Notices dated August 12 and headed “Request to Vacate Property” appeared on several premises in northern Kosovo, including a former post office, the former Komercijalna Banka branch and a pharmacy that remains in operation.
In the notices, Trepca cites official ownership-certificate records and says the properties are being used without a contract with the company. Users are given 10 days to vacate, after which Trepca says it will take legal action to protect its property rights.
The notices themselves are not court-ordered evictions.
The issue could, however, extend beyond commercial premises.
According to information obtained by KoSSev from several sources, some plots affected by the current property claims also contain residential buildings in Zvečan/Zveçan. Some residents have already begun checking their legal status and the documents they hold.
KoSSev has no confirmation from Trepca that notices will also be served on residents, nor information on how many residential properties could potentially be affected.
Lawyer questions legal basis
Lawyer Dragutin Nenezić told KoSSev that the latest move should be viewed in the context of a broader series of property disputes emerging in northern Kosovo.
He said any attempt to remove occupants without prior court proceedings would be legally questionable and stressed that, should residential properties become involved, residents would have rights including protection of their homes under the European Convention on Human Rights, which applies directly under Kosovo’s constitutional framework.
Nenezić also pointed to the distinction between Trepca’s “core” assets, directly linked to mining and production, and “non-core” property, which includes residential and other facilities in Zvečan/Zveçan and Leposavić/Leposaviq.
He said the ownership and legal status of each property would have to be established individually.
Official audit highlights gaps in Trepča’s property records
The dispute comes against the backdrop of significant gaps identified in Trepča’s own property records.
Kosovo’s latest official audit of Trepca, covering 2024, found that the company did not maintain a detailed database of apartments allocated to employees and did not know the total number of such housing units.
Auditors identified 236 employee requests to purchase apartments, while the housing units themselves were not recorded in the company’s asset register or reflected in its annual financial statements.
The audit also identified discrepancies involving hundreds of land plots and found that the Kopaonik–Leposavić/Leposaviq mining and flotation unit had not been fully integrated into Trepča’s legal, organisational and financial structure.
According to the audit, the unit was using two business identification numbers — one belonging to Trepca JSC and another linked to the former Trepca enterprise under the Kosovo Privatisation Agency — adding another layer of complexity to property questions in the north.
Kosovo’s Cadastral Agency said in 2025 that 2,133 properties, covering about 12.6 square kilometres of land, had been registered to Trepča JSC in the first phase of a process to unify the company’s property records.
What remains unclear
For now, the confirmed development is limited: Trepča has demanded that users vacate several properties within 10 days, citing ownership certificates.
It remains unclear how many properties are involved, which records underpin each individual claim and whether the process will extend to residential buildings in Zvečan/Zveçan.
Any such expansion could lead to litigation over ownership and occupancy rights. Nenezić said disputes involving Trepča property could ultimately be brought before the Special Chamber of Kosovo’s Supreme Court, which handles privatisation-related cases.
For a more detailed account, including the full legal analysis, audit findings and background on Trepča’s property records, see KoSSev’s Serbian-language version of this report.
Trepča traži imovinu na Severu: Posle lokala, na redu i stanovi?
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