SPECIFICS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND LEASE

V magistrski nalogi smo raziskali pravno ureditev zakupne pogodbe v Sloveniji ter pravno ureditev zakupne pogodbe v državah, ki so blizu Sloveniji in po katerih se slovensko pravo zgleduje v več pravnih ureditvah. Na slovenski zemlji so se do sprejema Zakona o obligacijskih razmerjih (ZOR) leta 1978 uporabljala pravila avstrijskega Občega državljanskega zakonika (ODZ) iz leta 1811. Zakon o obligacijskih razmerjih je uredil obligacijska razmerja in znotraj posebnega dela tudi zakupno pogodbo. Leta 2001 je določbe Zakona o obligacijskih razmerjih, ki se nanašajo na zakup, zamenjal danes veljavni Obligacijski zakonik (OZ), ki ureja pogodbe o prepustitvi pravice rabe in pod tem pojmom ureja dve vrsti imenskih, v zakonu urejenih pogodb o uporabi, najemno oziroma zakupno in posodbeno. Sedanji posebni predpisi o zakupu kmetijskih zemljišč izhajajo iz sedemdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja, ko je bil sprejet Zakon o kmetijskih zemljiščih, ki je pričel celoviteje urejati promet kmetijskih zemljišč, vključno z zakupom, tudi med lastniki in ne le med lastniki in t. i. družbenim sektorjem. Posebno ureditev zakupa je spremljal zemljiški maksimum, saj kmet ni smel preseči, tudi z zakupom kmetijskih zemljišč ne. Predpisi so dajali prednost zakupa kmetijskih zemljišč družbenemu sektorju (kmetijskim organizacijam) pred kmeti (individualnimi kmetijskimi proizvajalce). Prehod v družbeno ekonomski sistem, ki je zagotovil lastninsko pravico, uredil vračilo premoženja, ki je bilo podržavljeno s predpisi o agrarni reformi, nacionalizaciji in o zaplembah, ter odpravil zemljiški maksimum, je vplival na večjo aktualnost zakupa. Svoj delež so prispevala še aktualna gospodarska gibanja v kmetijstvu, ki obetajo preživetje le večjih kmetij in stagniranje ali celo propadanje manjših. Po odpravi zemljiškega maksimuma za posameznike in pravne osebe so vsa kmetijska gospodarstva, ne glede na pravno obliko (kmetje, podjetniki ali gospodarske družbe in druge pravne osebe), dobila možnost povečanja, in sicer z nakupom ali zakupom kmetijskih zemljišč. Kmetijska zemljišča so ob lastninskem preoblikovanju večinoma prešla v last države, ki je za gospodarjenje z njimi ustanovila Sklad kmetijskih zemljišč in gozdov RS, nekdanjim upravljalcem pa pod določenimi pogoji omogočila nadaljnjo uporabo kmetijskih zemljišč. Zakupno razmerje je na kmetijskem področju zelo pomembno obligacijsko razmerje, saj je omogoča odplačen prenos rabe kmetijskega zemljišča, ne da bi se prenašala lastninska pravica, kar je s kratkoročnega vidika za zakupnika cenejša rešitev kot nakup, poleg tega pa ne spreminja lastninskih razmerij, za kar stranke pogosto niso zainteresirane. O pomenu zakupa govori tudi dejstvo, da državni organi nadzorujejo sklepanje pogodb o zakupu, saj država zagotavlja posebno varstvo z usmerjanjem pravnega prometa s kmetijskimi zemljišči. Na podlagi primerjave zakonodaje na področju kmetijskega zakupa v Sloveniji in treh evropskih državah (Švici, Avstriji in Nemčiji) smo ugotovili, da kmetijska zemljiška zakonodaja v Sloveniji ureja le nekatera pomembnejša vprašanja zakupa kmetijskih zemljišč, vendar ne vseh. Določbe so zelo splošne, zaščita zakupnika pa bi bila lahko močnejša in učinkovitejša. Oddaja v zakup je dolgotrajen in zahteven postopek ter omejen le na predzakupne upravičence, ki sprejmejo zakupodajalčevo ponudbo in uživajo najboljši prednostni vrstni red. V veljavi je prosto dogovarjanje o višini zakupnine. Spori in nesporazumi se rešujejo le na rednih sodiščih, saj slovenska zakonodaja ne predvideva specializiranega organa, ki bi izvensodno reševal manjše nesporazume, kot so ugotavljanje stanja zakupljene stvari ob oddaji v zakup in ob vrnitvi, vlaganje v kmetijsko zemljišče v zakupu ipd. . Sodno varstvo zakupnika je zagotovljeno na rednih sodiščih, sodni postopki pa so povečini dolgotrajni. Alternativno reševanje sporov je mogoče na podlagi splošnih predpisov o mediaciji, arbitraži in drugih zunajsodnih postopkov, ki pa so v praThe aim of this Master Thesis was to research the regulation of a lease contract in Slovenia and regulation of lease contracts in similar countries, which the Slovene legislation uses as model in many regulations. Until the adoption of the Obligations Act (ZOR) dating from 1978, the rules of the Austrian General Citizen Code from the year 1811 applied on the Slovene territory. The Obligations Act regulated the obligational relations and also the lease contract in a separate section. In 2001, the provisions of the Obligations Act, relating to lease, were replaced by the currently applicable Code of Obligations (OZ) which regulates the contracts on the assignment of the right to use and under this notion two types of registered, regulated contracts on use, namely lease or rent and loan for use contract. The current special regulations on the lease of agricultural land originate from the 1970s, when the Agricultural Land Act was adopted which regulated the turnover of agricultural land in a more integral way, including lease and also between owners, not merely between the owners and the so-called social sector. This special regulation of lease was accompanied by land maximum, which a farmer was not allowed to exceed, not even through the lease of agricultural land. The provisions gave priority of the lease of agricultural land to the social sector (agricultural organisations) before farmers (individual agricultural producers). Lease became more popular with the transition to a social-economic system which provided the right of title, regulated the return of property that was nationalised though the regulations on agricultural reform and abolished the land maximum. This was further boosted by the contemporary economic developments in the agricultural sector which only guarantee the survival of large agricultural holdings and stagnation or ruin of smaller ones. After eliminating the land maximum for individuals and legal entities, all agricultural holdings, regardless of their legal form (farmers, entrepreneurs or companies and other legal entities) were given the opportunity to expand, by means of purchase or lease of agricultural land. In the phase of ownership transformation, agricultural land was mainly purchased by the state which established the Farm Land and Forest Fund of the Republic of Slovenia to manage the land and enabled the previous operators to further use the agricultural land under certain conditions. Lease relationship is a very important obligational relationship in the agricultural sector, as it enables the transfer of the use of agricultural land, against payment, without simultaneously transferring the title to such land, which is much less expensive than purchase, from the lessee’s short-term point of view, and does not change the ownership relations, in which the parties are usually not interested. The importance of leasing is also supported by the fact that government bodies control the signing of contracts, since the state guarantees special protection by guiding legal transactions involving agricultural land. Based on the comparison of legislation regulating the agricultural lease in Slovenia and three European countries (Switzerland, Germany and Austria), it was established that in Slovenia, the agricultural land legislation only regulated some important issues of agricultural land lease, but not all of them. The provisions are much more general and lessee protection could be stronger and more efficient. Lease is a long-term and demanding procedure, limited only to pre-lease beneficiaries who accept the lessor’s offer and are entitled to the best order of priority. The amount of lease is agreed freely between the parties. Disputes and disagreements are only resolved in regular courts, since the Slovene legislation does not foresee a specialised body that would resolve minor disputes out-of-court, such as for example determination of the state of leased subject upon handover into lease and return, investments in the agricultural land upon lease, etc. Legal protection of the l