Citizen Jamal Rzayev Sues Construction Company That Destroyed His House

The state offers citizens to be active and handle complaints, solving issues in the legal field. All state bodies have created their own websites with the possibility of urgent filing of complaints. But a resident of the Nasimi district of Baku Jamal Akif Oglu Rzayev, having sent to the President's Office, the Milli Majlis, the Ombudsman and the First Lady an appeal about the destruction of his house, receives only notices that his complaints have been sent to the executive power of the Nasimi district. And those of whom Rzayev complains respond that they have carried out preventive work with the construction company. The boring correspondence is finally fruitless.

The history of Rzayev"s transfer from the status of homeowner to the status of homeless began in March 2017, when representatives of the construction company Pilot Insaat-A came to their house and reported that the private house at Shamil Azizbekov Street in Baku fell under the infamous "pilot project" and would be demolished in accordance with Resolution No. 86 of the Cabinet. Briefly recall that this order implies the demolition of old and emergency housing, the construction of a new building in its place and the allocation of either apartments in this house, or financial compensation to the residents. In this case, it stands out that demolition of old housing is possible only with mutual consent between the owner and the construction company. Rzayev was the owner of a private house with a yard built by his great-grandfather in 1890. According to the technical passport, the real estate is 100 square meters of area, and 140 square meters of the yard. The representative (and, as it turned out, also the owner) of the company named Valeh said they would not pay for the yard. The only thing they can do is either pay 1,500 manat per 1 square meter of the house, or after the completion of construction, to allocate Rzayev an apartment of 100 sq. m + 20% and, during the construction, to pay him 400 manat per month for the rental of temporary housing. That is, Rzayev was supposed to present the company with 140 square meters of the yard, because there is no document on the ownership of this yard by Rzayev. However, in the extract from the state register on real estate it is said that the courtyard territory is given to Jamal for use. And according to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No 86 (clause 1.2), "land owned or used by individuals or legal entities can be used by the construction company after payment of its value" (February 25, 2016, Cabinet of Ministers decree 86).

Rzayev got acquainted with the contract he was proposed. But, despite frequent assurances of the company about the state significance of the "pilot project", the contract does not have guarantees from the state. That is, if a construction company does not fulfill its obligations to a citizen for some reason, the state will not interfere in their dispute.

Rzayev studied the resolution of the Nasimi district Executive Power, which states that the block between the streets Sh. Azizbekov, Mardanov Gardashlary, S. Askerova and S. Vurgun was given to the construction company Pilot Insaat-A for use and was struck by the lawlessness organized by the district authorities. How can a land plot granted for use to a physical or legal person be given to another person without his consent or notification, or without a court order?! This is a direct violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, paragraphs 13.1, 29.1, 29.2, 31.1, 31.2, Rzayev believes.

He naively believed that his conflict with the company Pilot Insaat-A would be resolved in the legal plane, but on the night of 23 to 24 July 2017 part of his house was destroyed. The collapse occurred due to the improper construction of the foundation pit near his house. Rzayev"s belongings were damaged. The family was lucky, as it was summer then, and the family lived in the country, so the house was empty, and the people did not suffer. The Executive Power staff arrived at the ruins and assured the owners that the house was an emergency one. They said they even allegedly had a conclusion of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but the owners were not shown the document. Rzayev"s 72-year-old father, who suffered a heart attack and stroke, was taken to the Oil Workers Hospital then.

Rzayev continued to struggle with the construction company and tried to prevent the destruction of the rest of the house. The case at that time was in court, and he again naively believed that the destruction would be stopped, at least for the period of the trial. But Pilot Insaat-A demolished the rest of the house.

The owner of the destroyed real estate was not a stubborn brawler, as it might seem. He made four proposals to the construction company for a peaceful settlement of this issue, but none of them was accepted.

After the house was demolished, a meeting took place in the office of the construction company with the participation of the Executive Power representatives (the head of the economic department and the chief architect of the district), where they persistently persuaded the citizens to accept the conditions of the construction company. "This is strange - after all, I think the Executive Power should be primarily concerned with the interests of the inconvenienced citizens, but in our case, the Executive Power is trying in every way to facilitate the work of the builders. After a while, I again met with the same representatives of the Executive Power, and at that meeting they already blamed the developer allegedly for causing inconvenience to the citizens and misinforming the authorities. It turns out that the construction company informed the Executive Power that an agreement had been reached with me," Rzayev noted.

At a meeting with the company"s owner, Rzayev said he would have to go to court, and he received an answer: "Complain to whom you want. No one will do anything to me. I have a very strong "roof."

The lawsuit Jamal Rzayev vs. Pilot Insaat-A continues.

Turan called the office of Pilot Insaat-A renamed into Seven Points on April 18 during the day. The editors intended to learn the position of the builders. But the two cellular phones and the landline phone of the company did not answer the calls.