Property Rights for Realty Created or Acquired Prior to June 29, 2004 to Be Recognized in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed on January 13 a decree "On approval of the List of documents proving entitlement to acquired or created properties before the entry into force of the Law of AR "On state registration of real estate» (http://president.az/articles/14019, http://president.az/articles/14018).

The decree does not apply to those objects which are located in the protection zone of engineering and transport infrastructure (pipelines, roads, railways, power lines, etc.), as well as land for the development of oil and gas fields.

Note that the AR Law "On state registration of real estate" entered into force on 29 June 2004. According to the new presidential decree, to obtain ownership of the property it is required to provide at least one document obtained before and after 26 August 1948 on a land area, and apartment or a dacha.

Experts positively evaluate this step of the government, the effect of which will provide citizens with legal rights to property in which they live for several decades.

At the same time, they believe that the list should have been included documents provided to citizens by municipalities and local executive authorities for housing. Such houses in the country are much more. According to some estimates, in Azerbaijan since the beginning of the 2000s, there have been built about 500 000 individual houses, ¾ of which are considered illegal. Most of those who received land from municipalities or purchased land plots on notarized contracts of sale failed to "knock out" the relevant permit from the local executive power and therefore have no right of ownership to the flat built on this land.