AZE.US
More than 500,000 undocumented homes are believed to exist on the Absheron Peninsula, making property registration one of the most difficult issues in Azerbaijan’s real estate sector.
The idea of a property amnesty for such homes has been raised repeatedly. Similar large-scale problems have been addressed in other countries through legalization programs. One example is Turkey’s 2018 “İmar Barışı” program, which allowed millions of undocumented buildings to be legalized after payment of a fee.
However, experts warn that any such approach must be handled carefully, especially in areas involving safety risks, protected zones, infrastructure lines or third-party property rights.
Real estate expert Ramil Gasimzade told Bizim.Media that the issue is currently under review by the government, but no final decision has yet been made.
According to him, work has already started on homes built on illegally occupied municipal land.
“In previous years, some citizens occupied municipal land and built houses on it. Now those citizens are being offered the opportunity to privatize the land they occupied,” Gasimzade said.
The procedure works as follows: if the citizen agrees to legalize the land, the municipality applies to an independent appraiser, who determines the market value of the plot. After that, a purchase and sale agreement is signed between the municipality and the citizen.
Once the sale is completed, the documents are submitted to the State Real Estate Register Service. The land plot and the house built on it can then be officially registered.
However, the problem remains unresolved for homes built on land that does not belong to municipalities.
Gasimzade said some of these plots are agricultural land, while others belong to private companies or are located within protected zones of communication lines.
For such properties, he said, there has so far been no significant progress in the legalization process.
AZE.US