6.  The applicants live or lived (the second applicant) in Split. The applicants’ other personal details are set out in the Appendix.
7.  Except for the third and the fourth applicants who are the co-owners of the same flat, each applicant is (and the second applicant was before her death) the owner of a flat in Split occupied by “protected lessees” (zaštićeni najmoprimci). Under the Lease of Flats Act (Zakon o najmu stanova), which entered into force on 5 November 1996, such lessees are subject to a number of protective measures, such as the duty of landlords to contract a lease of indefinite duration, payment of protected rent (zaštićena najamnina), the amount of which is set by the Government and significantly lower than the market rent; and better protection against termination of the lease.
8.  In 2005 the applicants brought civil actions before the Split Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Splitu), seeking to obtain judgements ordering the State to pay them the difference between the protected rent they were entitled to receive under the domestic legislation and the market rent they could have obtained if their flats were not subject to the protected lease scheme. The applicants argued that the inadequate level of the protected rent imposed on them under the Lease of Flats Act unduly restricted their right of ownership. The applicants relied, inter alia, on Article 48 § 1 and Article 50 of the Croatian Constitution (see paragraph 18 below).
9.  The Split Municipal Court dismissed the applicants’ actions as unfounded. These judgements were upheld by the Split County Court (Županijski sud u Splitu), and in case of the third and fourth applicants, also by the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske). In their complaints lodged with the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske), the applicants alleged violations of their right to a fair hearing guaranteed by Article 29 § 1 and of their right to compensation in case of ownership restrictions guaranteed by Article 50 § 1 of the Croatian Constitution while referring also to its Article 48 § 1 (see paragraph 18 below). By decisions of 25 January and 14 December 2011 and 29 March and 9 February 2012 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicants’ constitutional complaints, respectively.
10.  According to the information submitted by the applicants, the level of the monthly protected rent for their flats changed in the period after the entry into force of the Convention in respect of Croatia (5 November 1997) in the manner indicated below. The Government did not contest this information
The amount of the protected rent for the first applicant’s flat 
Application no.
35444/12
Size of the flat in square metres
The amount of the protected rent in HRK
Period 174.80
5 September 2012 - onwards
The amount of the protected rent for the second applicant’s flat 
Application no.
35576/12
Size of the flat in square metres
The amount of the protected rent in HRK
Period 350.62
1 January 2013 - onwards
The amount of the protected rent for the third and fourth applicants’ flat[1]
Application nos.
41555/12 and 41558/12
Size of the flat in square metres
The amount of the protected rent in HRK
Period 160.08
5 September 2012 - onwards
The amount of protected rent for the fifth applicant’s flat
Application no.
48914/12
Size of the flat in square metres
The amount of the protected rent in HRK
Period
11.  According to the applicants, the condominium fee paid into the common reserve fund by the owners of the flat for maintenance etc., for the first applicant’s flat was set at 140 Croatian kunas (HRK) on 1 March 1998 and has not been changed since. For the third and fourth applicants, as the co-owners of the same flat, the condominium fee was set at HRK 101.20 on 1 January 1998 and has not changed since. As to the second and the fifth applicants’ flats, the condominium fee has never been set. The Government did not contest this information.
12.  According to the applicants, they never paid any income tax on the income generated by renting out their flats subject to the protected lease scheme.
13. The applicants furnished information as regards the monthly market rent for renting out flats in the vicinity of theirs.
14.  The first applicant submitted:
- a copy of a lease agreement of 30 September 2013 for a flat in the same building with the surface area of 32.9 m² rented out for HRK 2,000 per month,
- an advertisement from the newspapers of 4 September 1999 offering for rent a flat in Split of a similar size as his (60 m²) for 650 German Marks (DEM) per month,
- an advertisement from the Internet dated 15 November 2013 offering for rent a furnished flat of 50 m² for EUR 300 per month, and another one dated 9 December 2014 of 60 m² for EUR 500 per month, 
- an advertisement from the Internet dated 21 November 2014 offering for rent a two bedroom flat for EUR 112 per day in the high season, and for EUR 60 per day in the low season.
15.  The second and fifth applicants submitted:
- an advertisement from the newspapers of 16 December 1998 offering for rent a furnished flat of 78 m² for DEM 800 per month,
- an advertisement from the Internet dated 4 December 2014 offering for rent a furnished flat of 85 m² for EUR 1,200 per month, and another one of 8 July 2014 offering for rent a furnished flat of 80 m² for EUR 1,000 per month,
- an advertisement of a real-estate agency offering for rent a flat of 80 m² for EUR 1,000 per month. 
These applicants also claimed that their flats could be offered for rent during high season for EUR 150 per day.
16.  The third and fourth applicants submitted:
 - an advertisement from the newspapers of 25 September 1999 offering for rent a non-furnished flat in Split of 80 m² for DEM 600 per month, and another one of 2 October 1999 offering for rent a flat of 93 m² for DEM 1,000 per month,
- an advertisement from the Internet dated 8 December 2014 offering for rent a furnished flat of 60 m² for EUR 500 per month, and another one dated 3 December 2014 offering for rent a flat of 55 m² for EUR 400 per month. These applicants also claimed that their flat could be offered for rent during high season for a minimum of EUR 50 per day.
17. The Government submitted that the applicants had not demonstrated that they would have been able to rent out their flats at all or to rent them out for the monthly rent indicated above (see paragraphs 14-16), pointing out to the negative effect the financial crisis had had on the real-estate market. The Government furnished information from the tax authorities according to which the monthly market rent for flats in the vicinity of those of the applicants ranged, in the period between 2005 and 2015, from HRK 750 to HRK 5,320. The data submitted referred to nine flats and read as follows: 
 
Size in square metres
Monthly rent in HRK
Relevant period
38
1,850.00
2009 - 2012
60
4,777.37
2007 - 2010
26 900.00
2005 - 2012
36
1,473.12
2011 - 2012
62
5,320.00
2015
62
3,800.00
2010 - 2014
47
1,475.00
2010 - 2012
56
1,000.00
2008 - 2009