A Baku resident says his family has been unable to move into an apartment it paid for six years ago after the developer repeatedly changed the unit being offered and later sought an additional payment.
Elbrus Kerimov said the dispute concerns an apartment in a building at 33 Abbas Mirza Sharifzade Street in Baku’s Yasamal district. The developer was identified in an ATV report as İnşaat Konstruksiyaları.
Kerimov said he saw an advertisement for an apartment priced at 36,000 manats in 2020 and sold his country house for 40,000 manats to finance the purchase.
According to Kerimov, the family was later offered another apartment in a different section of the building on the 15th floor. He said the company authorized renovations, and the family began work on the unit.
The family says it spent an additional 6,000 to 7,000 manats on renovations.
Kerimov said the company subsequently told the family that the apartment had been assigned to them by mistake and that their intended unit was one floor lower. The family agreed to another change, he said, but the new arrangement was not formally documented and no renovation permit was issued for the replacement apartment.
He said company employees later relayed a demand for an additional payment, explaining that the apartment had been sold too cheaply several years earlier.
About two weeks before ATV filmed the report, Kerimov said he went to the disputed apartment and found that the door he had installed had been removed, another door had been put in its place, and renovation work was underway inside. The report did not identify who currently controls the unit.
ATV journalists accompanied Kerimov to the apartment, but no one opened the door.
Developer Did Not Respond
A lawyer interviewed by ATV said that if there are indications that money was obtained through deception, the buyer could contact law enforcement. The lawyer also said the family could seek compensation in court for documented renovation expenses.
The report did not cite a court ruling or an established finding of fraud. The account of the apartment changes and the demand for additional payment was presented as Kerimov’s allegation.
ATV said it made repeated attempts to contact İnşaat Konstruksiyaları but received no answer. The developer’s position was not included in the report.
Sources: Vesti Baku; ATV News video report.