Lock replaced on apartment of displaced person from Leposavic, Municipality ignores tenants' complaints

An employee of the Municipality of Leposavic operating under the Kosovo system replaced the lock today on the apartment of Slobodan Spasic, which he received from the Commissariat for Refugees in November last year as part of a housing program for displaced persons. Attempts to replace the locks on two additional apartments were prevented by their current occupants.

Residents say they submitted complaints to the Municipality of Leposavic, but to no avail. According to them, the municipal employee responsible for receiving submissions was not at her workplace, so the documentation was sent by mail, but no response has been received to date.

Ivana Radosavljevic, who was at her brother’s apartment at the time of the incident, said she was shocked by the lock replacement without prior notice or valid documentation.

“It’s obvious that something is being done that shouldn’t be. We were sitting in the apartment having coffee when we heard some commotion in the hallway. We went down to the first floor and saw that the lock on apartment number 1 was being replaced. When we asked what they were doing and whether they had any documents, they said they didn’t and that they were just there to do their job. Later, they went to Aleksandra Subotic’s door, but naturally, she didn’t allow them to change the lock on her apartment,” Radosavljevic said.

According to her, the workers then tried to enter other apartments, including theirs, but were denied access by the tenants.

“They came to our apartment and my brother opened the door. We did not give them permission, and they just said they would come back tomorrow with another team to carry out the work. I asked if they had any paperwork justifying the lock replacement, and they said they had nothing and were just doing their job. They were polite—our people who work in their institutions—but we are scared for our safety and uncertain about what will happen next because we live here. We've furnished the apartment—where are we supposed to go with our belongings?” she asked.

She added that Spasic has nowhere to go if this apartment is taken from him, since all collective centers have been closed.

“Spasic’s lock was replaced, and I honestly don’t know where that man will go. The collective center is closed—he is effectively on the street,” Radosavljevic emphasized.

As a reminder, out of 40 families, four displaced families who moved into new apartments last year built with funds from the Serbian Government through the Office for Kosovo and Metohija received notices from the Municipality of Leposavic in May to return the keys and vacate the apartments.