4.  The applicants were born in 1952 and 1955 respectively and live in Sofia. 5.  The first applicant’s parents owned part of a house in Sofia. 6.  In 1986 the house was expropriated with a view to constructing a street and a residential building. The expropriation decision, based on section 98 (1) of the Territorial and Urban Planning Act of 1973 (Закон за териториалното и селищно устройство – “the TUPA”), provided in particular that in compensation the applicants were to receive a three-room flat. 7.  By another decision of 28 May 1993, based on section 100 of the TUPA, the mayor indicated the exact future flat to be provided as compensation to the applicants. It measured 87 square metres and was situated in a building to be constructed by the Sofia municipality. Its value was set at 21,185 old Bulgarian levs (BGL), later amended to BGL 21,231. The applicants paid to the municipality the part of this amount which was not covered by the value of the expropriated property. 8.  In 1990 the applicants, their children and the first applicant’s parents were accommodated in a three‑room municipal flat. They remained in it until 2004, when they chose to move to another dwelling better adapted for the first applicant’s mother’s frail state of health. 9.  On an unspecified date in 2005 the applicants brought a tort action against the Sofia municipality, claiming pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage on account of its continued failure to build and provide them with a flat. 10.  The action was dismissed on 21 February 2006 by the Sofia District Court, which found that the applicants had not proven that they had sustained damage, in particular because they had been accommodated in a municipally-owned dwelling, and that in any event domestic law provided for a special remedy for persons in the applicants’ situation, namely the possibility to request a new valuation of the expropriated property. 11.  Following that judgment, the applicants made a request for a new valuation. In a letter by the municipality dated 2 June 2006 and signed by a deputy mayor, they were informed that they were not entitled to seek such a valuation since they had not been the owners of the expropriated property. 12.  In the meantime the flat due to the applicants was built and they took possession of it on 19 June 2006. 13.  In the tort proceedings, in judgments of 14 December 2006 and 8 July 2008 the Sofia City Court and the Supreme Court of Cassation upheld the Sofia District Court’s judgment of 21 February 2006, reiterating its findings. 14.  In these proceedings the applicants were ordered to pay 1,200 new Bulgarian levs (BGN, the equivalent to 612 euros – EUR) in court fees.