Decisions on emergency houses are taken illegally

Residents of private one-two-story houses in the Nasimi district of Baku told Turan that on February 2 representatives of the Executive Powers came to their yards and informed citizens that regardless of whether they want it or not, the real estate of these people will be demolished. Officials of the district authorities explain their intentions by the fact that the block of residential houses on the streets Abbas Sahhat, Khan Shushinsky, Azadlig and Nasib Bey Yusifbeyli avenues, total 58 houses, consists of buildings that are in emergency state and are to be demolished under the "pilot project" of the Cabinet (decision N86), providing for the demolition of buildings in Baku in emergency condition and spoiling the face of Baku.

Residents of these houses (on the territory of 1.21 hectares) sent collective complaints to various instances. They received an official answers from which it follows that their houses are in the emergency state, and should be demolished. We would like to add that the whole territory has been given by the Nasimi District Power to the construction company Gloria Palace LLC. Residents managed to learn from the website of the Ministry of Taxes, that there is not enough money on the account of this company even for the construction of a sentry booth, not to mention a multi-storey residential modern house. The residents refuse to sign a contract with this company, their numerous complaints will be answered on February 12 by Zeynal Naghaliyev, head of the presidential administration department. They were told about it on February 6th in the Presidential Administration.

A resident of the named quarter Victor Sapunkov has studied the normative acts concerning definition of an accidents rate of apartment houses. In a letter to the editor, he reported on the categorical disparity between the actions of the specialists of the state construction organization Azerdovlettikintilahiye with the requirements of the standards, when determining the condition of their houses.

The residents received by mail the Act of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on June 19, 2016, which says that the conducted visual observation or inspection of houses showed that the houses are old, constructions and rusted, and therefore the immovable property of the residents should be demolished.

Baku has a huge experience of "reinforcing" five-storey (and more) residential houses with decorative plates, which were once, unfortunately, very flammable. The old five-story buildings decorated with plates are not demolished, "decorating" Metbuat Avenue and other districts of Baku. People live in them, although no reinforcement has been made from inside. What is the fault of residents of low-rise private buildings, in the walls of which there are not even cracks? And what is the secret of such a close dependence of the leadership of the Nasimi district Executive Power on the construction company Gloria Palace LLC, if, despite the numerous protests of citizens, the Nasimi executive Power district does not want to refuse to cooperate with this company?

Let's return to normative documents.

From the conclusion of the Ministry of Emergency Situations No. 0051 of March 16, 2016, it comes out that this is only an opinion on the fire-fighting measures that a construction company must perform. The document does not give ground for demolition of houses.

The second document submitted is the aforementioned act from Azerdovlettikintilahiye on the results of visual inspection of houses by the specialists of this organization. Such inspections should apply the norms specified in AzDTN 1.7-1, which can be freely read on the website of the Architecture and Urban Planning Committee. In addition, there is a document GOST 31937-2011 which Azerbaijan joined. Both documents are called the Rules for the inspection and monitoring of buildings and structures. Both documents state that a technical condition survey should occur if the owner himself applies, if it is a private house, or the appropriate Executive Power institution, if the building is in public or state ownership. Hence it is clear that the Executive Power did not have the right to apply to the Ministry for Emergency Situations with a request for a survey of buildings in private ownership. In such cases, Article 28 of the Housing Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan is applicable, which states: "The owner must timely repair it in case of emergency of an apartment (residential building), and in the event of an emergency condition of an apartment (residential building) due to a natural disaster or for other reasons , not dependent on the owner, to carry out its repair and reconstruction in the shortest possible time. If the owner of the apartment (residential building) does not fulfill the obligation specified in Article 28.1 of this Code , the court may decide on the emergency condition of the apartment (residential building) on ​​the basis of a claim by employers, neighbors or other interested persons, as well as the relevant executive authority. In this decision, a reasonable period for repairing an apartment (residential building) located in an emergency This is carried out by the owner of the apartment (residential building), in an emergency condition, and at his expense. If the owners of the apartment (residential building), in an emergency condition, do not comply with the precept Article 28.3 of this Code the judgment within the specified period or even refuse to repair, which is required to carry out immediately, apartment (apartment building), which is in disrepair, is to be sold by a court order in an open auction to a person who according to the required conduct repair. This is the requirement of the law. None of these requirements are applied to the specified residential quarter.

The fact that the inspection did not use special technical means, said in an official letter. This fact roughly contradicts the international standards established by GOST 31937-2011, (item 4.1), "Inspection and monitoring of the technical condition of buildings and structures are carried out by specialized organizations equipped with a modern instrument base and having in their composition highly qualified and experienced specialists.

4.2 Inspection and monitoring of the technical condition of buildings and structures shall be carried out in accordance with pre-designed programs.

5.1.7 The inspection of the technical condition of buildings (structures) should be carried out in three stages:

1) preparation for the survey;

2) preliminary (visual) examination;

3) detailed (instrumental) examination.

The same is reflected in AzDTN 1.7-1

However, as follows from an official letter from the project organization, the specialists confined themselves to a superficial inspection of the houses. Even if an instrumental survey was conducted and the houses were objectively turned out to be emergency, the state in the person of the district Executive Power was obliged to demand that the residents repair the houses with the owners' funds. Only if this requirement is not fulfilled, the executive power could resort to the following actions specified in the law. But objective instrumental survey methods were not applied, therefore, only a visual inspection of the buildings could lead to false conclusions about the accidents of houses.

"From all that has been said, it should be concluded that our houses are not emergency." We can agree that our houses spoil the city's appearance and do not correspond to town-planning norms, but even in this case, our houses are our property, which is protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan," summed up Viktor Sapunkov, representing the interests of more than one hundred families, residing in the residential district of Nasimi district of Baku.