AZE.US
Home buyers in Azerbaijan are being urged to check a property’s legal status before paying an advance deposit, as some buyers only discover problems at the notary stage.
In recent cases, buyers have found that the apartment they planned to purchase was subject to a bank mortgage, seizure, sales ban or another legal restriction.
Real estate and construction expert Elnur Azadov, head of the Azerbaijan Realtors Association, said buyers should not rely only on verbal assurances from the seller.
According to him, notary offices in Baku are currently under heavy workload. Several notary offices in the capital have stopped operating this year, increasing pressure on the remaining offices. As a result, citizens often have to wait for hours, and in some cases legal problems with the property are discovered only at the end of the process.
Azadov said buyers often pay a “beh,” or advance deposit, before the full legal status of the property is checked.
“Realtors are usually involved in this process. They act as intermediaries in nearly 70 to 80% of real estate transactions. For this reason, legal regulation of realtor activity and the creation of oversight mechanisms in this field would be appropriate,” Azadov said.
He said buyers should first check the property extract from the official registry and other ownership documents. They should make sure there is no mortgage, seizure, sales ban or other encumbrance on the property.
This information can be obtained from the official state registry. If an apartment is under a bank mortgage, it cannot be sold without the bank’s consent.
Azadov said buyers should also check whether there are unpaid utility bills or other obligations connected to the apartment.
“Clarifying all these issues before paying an advance deposit helps prevent legal and financial risks later. The parties should sign a notarized purchase agreement only after all legal risks have been removed,” he said.
The expert added that stronger regulation of realtor activity could help prevent such problems. In his view, regulated realtors could take part in checking documents and identifying the legal condition of a property before a sale agreement is signed.
For buyers, the key rule is simple: before handing over money, the property’s registry extract, ownership documents, possible mortgage, seizure, sales ban and debts should all be officially checked.
AZE.US