Attempt to abolish regulated rents fails

The Constitutional Court has ruled against invalidating an article of the law that allows the government to de-regulate rents gradually. The Court was dealing with the case on the grounds of a complaint from house owners who claim that the ceilings on rents are so low that they do not collect enough money to cover maintenance costs. The Constitutional Court ruled that although the respective article of the law would not be abolished the courts themselves could begin the process of rent-deregulation by judging complaints on a case by case basis. Czech house owners have filed more than 3,000 complaints with the European Court of Human Rights over rent-deregulation.