Yes, the properties where returned to their pre-war owners, but it wasn't simple to actually get people to move out.
If my memory serves me right, the owner had to provide a replacement living quarters, give up to a few years (?) advance notice...
In some cases it is possible he could do that only if they weren't paying rent - and I think there still is a state-set maximum that you can charge.
A acquentance (sp?) of mine has an apartment building in Riga - some of the apartments don't have the former inhabitants (who weren't paying a dime) and have been repaired/etc. and are being rented out, but many still have the same inhabitants... and that after 10 years (of which many have been spent in court).
The thing that makes this thing easier is that in Soviet times, noone owned much of anything privately. So it's not like some private citizens were taken away land and property that was theirs and given to somebody who had it in 1940, before the Soviet invasion.
It's more like - a collective farm was liquidated and the land given to the former owners. The tricky part is the housing, as described above.
I am not sure about all the circumstances/laws, but it sure wasn't a simple knock on the door saying "leave, NOW!" that "kicking out" seems to suggest.
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