Liberal Law on Private Construction and Its Corruption Loopholes

In 2010, at the online forum Disput.az the forum attendant opened a topic in which he first told about the dacha house he had built after receiving all state permits, and then reported a bribe of 15,000 manat, which he was required for the registration of a one-story basement building. "I'm not alone in such a situation ... such lawlessness with the design of the constructed house everywhere (central and district realty registration offices). I even heard that they were tearing up copies of documents sent by registered mail ... I am ready to pay 2,000, but not more. Then the sense of obtaining all the initial documents for construction is lost," the forum attendant reported.

Since that time, liberal changes have been introduced into the procedure of state permits and the registration of houses built privately, which will be discussed below. Nevertheless, citizens who apply to Turan inform about the rejection letters they receive from the district executive power of Baku and the neighboring districts, where dacha construction is especially developed. The authorities, within the time prescribed by law, notify citizens of the impossibility to build a house in this place because of the unavailability of engineering communications or their congestion due to previously built houses. There can be refusals under other grounds (non-compliance with the general plan of the district - Article 80.3), the expert examination of which during the trial requires a lot of time, effort and money. Citizens report that the trials are hopeless, since the judges clearly protect the demands of the executive. They write that the best way to avoid this red tape, the result of which is likely to be not in favor of the plaintiff, is the usual bribery. After the bribe any obstacles artificially created in front of the owner instantly crumble.

The long-standing problem of corruption in the construction industry has been repeatedly covered in publications by Turan and other media. Characteristic is the title of the article in the website: "500,000 Unregistered Houses: Bribery Level Does Not Allow.

(http://www.cebhe.info/500-min-senedsiz-ev-rusvet-seddi-senedlesmeye-imkan-vermir-56569)

In December 2017, the head of the Center for Sustainable Development Studies, Nariman Agayev, told the Echo newspaper that the executive authorities "still demand bribes" for permission to build.

In April 2015, October 2016 and May 2017, the Town Planning and Building Code was amended, simplifying and reducing the procedures that are required for the construction of private houses. For the latest text of the Town Planning Code and the Construction Code (2017), please visit e-ganun.az. The legislative requirements for the developer are collected in Article 80 - Execution of Notification.

The law says that it does not require permission to build a house no higher than 12 meters and three floors and the length of the ceilings not more than 6 m. It is enough to submit to the district authority a plan meeting the requirements of Chapter 80.1, a copy of the land ownership statement and a declaration of intention to build your own house.

In 2015 and 2017, the requirement to obtain a house permit with a height of more than 2 floors, a height of each floor of more than 3 m and a total area of ​​more than 1,400 sq.m., was canceled.

After written notification to the regional authorities, the latter is obliged to respond to the citizen within 10 days, after which, and in case of no response, the developer can start construction work (Article 80.4). The claims of the authorities to the draft of the future house should be explained with indication of all discrepancies to normative documents. The Code excludes the possibility for the authorities to respond to a citizen within 30 days in the absence of a complete territorial plan.

The Code establishes that there is no need to obtain permission and notify the intention to build economic objects (fences, wells, warehouses, greenhouses, etc.), the size of which does not exceed the statutory limits (Article 80.1 "Notice of Enforcement") on a private territory.

The last text of the law is quite liberal and is aimed at excluding opportunities for corruption in the executive branch. But in the reality of Azerbaijan it is not as easy as it is written in the law. Details of loopholes and deliberate confusion in the Urban and Construction Code are stated in Turan's article "Simplified Corruptive Construction-7" of May 26, 2017 (http://www.turan.az/wap/2017/5/free/Want%20to%20Say/ru/62642.htm).

Difficulties for the developer can be artificially created on the basis of Article 84 (Technical Conditions), which deals with the supply of utilities to the house under construction, as well as the consent of the higher authority and utility companies to the district authorities. Articles 85 (Construction Site) and 86 (Carrying out Preparatory work for Commencement of Construction) also abound in opportunities for corruptive interference by the executive branch.

A common method of corrupt officials is to present a threat to destroy the constructed house under the pretext of the revealed inconsistencies to the mentioned Code. Citizens need to know that the 16th article of the law requires advance and written notification to the owner about the violations found in his house, and the power must order in writing to correct them. If the legitimate requirements of the municipal or executive authority are not met, a built or unfinished house may be demolished one month after the official notification.

The only advice that can be given to an individual developer is to strictly comply with the requirements of the Town Planning and Building Code and, being confident of their rightness, to demand that the law be enforced in court. It happens that, after learning about the developer's application to court, the bribe takers abandon the criminal intent.