Research on Real Estate Registration Problems in Azerbaijan

Baku / 18.04.18 / Turan: The research document on the topic "Problems of real estate registration in Azerbaijan" has been distributed by the Institute of Democratic Initiatives today.

The authors of the 38-page study examined the problems of this sphere, affecting the interests of a large part of the population.

According to unofficial data, there are 500,000 unauthorized (illegal) buildings in Azerbaijan and about 2 million people live in them.

The problem of self-construction arose as a result of accelerated urbanization, lack of planning, contradictions and complexities of legislation, numerous bureaucratic obstacles, and corruption in the acquisition of land and building permits.

In addition, the lack of an affordable mechanism for purchasing apartments, poverty and mass migration of internally displaced people from the occupied territories and refugees from Armenia also played a role.

The courts do not recognize the ownership of illegal structures, despite the fact that international law and the ECHR's case-law decisions allow special cases of recognition of such rights.

About 2 million citizens living in illegal facilities face registration problems at their place of residence, which creates legal difficulties.

About 500 thousand residential properties are not subject to land and property taxes.

In places of illegal settlement there is no social infrastructure, communications, kindergartens, nurseries, or schools.

The most effective step in registering houses without documents was the presidential decrees on January 13 and October 15, 2015, after which certificates of ownership were issued for 30,000 objects.

Back in March 2011, President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting in the Baku Executive Power gave instructions on the registration of houses without registration.

The authors of the study recommend that this process be accelerated. It is also proposed that the courts considering such disputes proceed from the precedent decisions of the ECHR.

With regard to the demolition of objects built on the basis of municipal permits on lands on the balance of state structures, they must be subject to court decisions, and the owners should be compensated.

As part of the fight against corruption, control over the registration of real estate must be strengthened.

TV channels should prepare educational programs on these topics with employees of the State Real Estate Registry Service and civil society activists, the report says.

* The Institute for Democratic Initiatives was established in November 2013 by a group of civil society activists. It is headed by a former member of the Central Election Commission Akif Gurbanov. -06D--