SERVICES

Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the State Register of Immovable Property (June 29, 2004)

Chapter I. General Provisions

This Law establishes the procedure for the state registration of ownership rights on immovable property and other real rights, their creation, limitations (encumbrances), transfer, termination, as well as the maintenance of a unified state register of immovable property throughout the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 1. Key Concepts

1.0. The terms used in this Law have the following meanings:

1.0.1. Immovable property — land plots, subsoil areas, separate water bodies (water reservoirs), and all items permanently connected to the land, the movement of which without disproportionate (unlimited) damage to their purpose is impossible, including buildings, structures, residential and non-residential premises, individual housing and summer houses, forests and perennial plantings, enterprises as property complexes, the rights to which are subject to state registration.

1.0.2. State register number of real estate (registration number) — in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a unique number, which is non-repetitive over time and in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, indicating that the real estate object is a single entity.

1.0.3. Limitation of rights (restriction, encumbrance) — conditions and prohibitions, as established by law and in the manner prescribed by law, limiting the right holder when exercising ownership rights on immovable property or other real rights (servitude, usufruct, mortgage, trust management, lease, property arrest, etc.);

1.0.4. Registration authority — the relevant executive body responsible for creating and maintaining the state register of immovable property.

Article 2. State Registration of Rights on Immovable Property

2.1. State registration of ownership rights on immovable property and other real rights (hereinafter — state registration of rights) is a legal act of recognition and confirmation by the state of the occurrence, limitation (encumbrance), transfer, and termination of rights on immovable property in accordance with the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

2.2. The registration of rights on immovable property is conducted in the state register of immovable property (hereinafter — state register) in the manner established by the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan and this Law.

2.3. The registered right on immovable property may be contested.

2.4. Disputes related to state registration of rights are resolved in court.

Article 3. Legislation on the Registration of Rights on Immovable Property

The legislation on the registration of rights on immovable property consists of the Constitution, the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, this Law, and other normative legal documents.

Article 4. Recognition of Previously Established Rights

4.1. State registration of rights on immovable property carried out by separate registration authorities before the entry into force of this Law shall remain valid.

4.2. For the state registration of restrictions (encumbrances) on rights to immovable property after the entry into force of this Law, existing rights on such immovable property must be registered in the state register.

4.3. Relevant executive bodies that carried out state registration of rights to immovable property before the entry into force of this Law are required to transfer to the registration authority the information that, according to this Law, should be stored in the state register, in stages and within the timeframes established by the relevant executive authority. Until this information is transferred in the prescribed manner, these executive bodies are required to provide, within 5 business days from the request of the right holder or the registration authority, the necessary information for the registration of rights to a specific immovable property in accordance with this Law.

Article 5. Openness of the State Register

5.1. Information on real estate, registered rights, and their limitations (encumbrances) from the state register shall be provided to the right holder, the person authorized by them, the persons entitled to inherit the property of the right holder by law or will, and the relevant state authorities and municipalities in connection with the exercise of their statutory powers.

5.2. A physical person who applies to the registration authority for information from the state register must present an identity document, and a legal entity must present a copy of its state registration certificate and a power of attorney confirming the authority of its representative. A person who does not hold ownership of the immovable property must indicate the purpose of obtaining the certificate in the application.

5.3. The registration authority must provide the requested information to the applicant within 5 business days or issue a written refusal with a reasoned explanation.

5.4. The registration authority must, based on a request from the right holder, provide them with information, during working hours and on the same day of application, about information transferred by the registration authority to other persons regarding the immovable property belonging to the right holder.

5.5. The use of information contained in the state register in ways and forms that could harm the legitimate interests of the right holder entails liability in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 6. Payment for Registration of Rights and Providing Information

6.1. A state duty must be paid into the state budget for registration in the prescribed manner and amount as specified by law.

6.2. A fee for information provided from the state register must be paid into a special account of the registration authority, amounting to 30 percent of the state duty for registration of rights, as specified by law.

6.3. No state duty is charged for the registration in the state register of rights to immovable property based on acts, certificates, and registration certificates confirming these rights before the entry into force of this Law.

Article 7. Technical Characteristics of Immovable Property

The procedure for conducting work on land demarcation and inventory, as well as the preparation of the relevant technical documents necessary for the registration of ownership rights to immovable property and other real rights, is determined by the legislation.

Chapter II. Procedure for State Registration of Rights to Immovable Property

Article 8. Grounds for State Registration of Rights

8.0. The grounds for the creation, transfer, limitation (encumbrance), and termination of rights to immovable property are:

8.0.1. Acts on the alienation, lease, use, mortgage of immovable property owned by the state or municipalities, adopted by executive bodies and municipal authorities in accordance with the legislation.

8.0.2. Contracts, certificates of inheritance rights, housing certificates, and other documents established by law concerning immovable property, confirmed by a notary.

8.0.3. Court decisions that have entered into legal force in accordance with the law.

8.0.4. Acts, certificates, and registration certificates confirming rights to immovable property, including land plots, buildings, structures, residential and non-residential premises, individual housing and summer houses, subsoil areas, water bodies, forests, perennial plantings, enterprises as property complexes, issued by relevant executive bodies before the entry into force of this Law.

8.0.5. Lease agreements, orders, and directives issued for summer plots allocated to citizens by the management of summer cottages under relevant executive authorities before May 22, 2007.

8.0.6. Other grounds provided by law.

Article 9. Procedure for State Registration of Rights

9.1. State registration of rights is carried out in the following order:

9.1.1. Receiving the application for state registration of rights in accordance with this Law and attached documents, including the receipt of the state duty payment.

9.1.2. Checking the consistency of the information in the documents submitted with the information stored in the state register.

9.1.3. Verifying the absence of contradictions between the claimed and already registered rights, as well as the presence of other grounds for refusal of state registration of rights or its suspension.

9.1.4. Entering information into the confirming documents and the state register if there are no grounds for refusing the state registration of rights or its suspension.

9.2. Except for cases provided for in Articles 14.1 and 15.1 of this Law, the registration authority must complete the state registration of rights to immovable property no later than 20 days from the date of application and submission of attached documents.

9.3. State registration of rights is conducted in the order in which applications are received.

9.4. State registration of limitations (encumbrances) on rights to immovable property is carried out in case of the registration of previously established rights to this immovable property in the state register.

Article 10. Submission of Documents for State Registration of Rights

10.1. State registration of rights is carried out based on the application of the right holder in the manner established by this Law. The application from a physical person must include the full name, address, and identity document; from a legal entity — its full name, address, state registration certificate, the full name and address of the executive authority, the content of the request, and attached documents.

10.2. The following documents must be attached to the application submitted to the registration authority:

10.2.1. One of the grounds for state registration of rights provided for in Article 8 of this Law.

10.2.2. A plan and dimensions of the land plot.

10.2.3. A technical passport, a site plan of the buildings, structures, and other immovable property (their components) located on the land plot.

10.2.4. A receipt for payment of the state duty.

10.3. If the application is submitted on behalf of the right holder by another person, the corresponding power of attorney must be confirmed by a notary. The application from a legal entity and the power of attorney issued to its representative must be confirmed by the seal of the legal entity. The persons submitting the application must provide an identity document.

Article 11. Requirements for Documents Submitted for State Registration of Rights

11.1. Documents confirming the existence, creation, transfer, limitation (encumbrance), and termination of rights must meet the requirements established by law for state registration of rights.

11.2. The text of the documents must be legible, with the names of legal and physical persons fully specified. Documents with crossed-out words, corrections, deletions, or other changes not confirmed as authentic, as well as documents with damage that prevents clear interpretation of their content, shall not be accepted for state registration.

Article 12. Registration of Rights

12.1. The occurrence and transfer of ownership rights to immovable property and other real rights are formalized by an extract from the state register, issued by the registration authority based on documents prepared by the relevant executive authority. The extract must indicate the registration number of the immovable property.

12.2. The form and procedure for preparing the extract from the state register are established by the relevant executive authority.

 

Article 13. State Registration of Rights to Real Estate

13.10. Each entry (record) of the right, its restriction, and contracts regarding real estate shall be assigned a registration number of the application accepted for state registration of rights, as recorded in the application journal.

13.11. The state register is maintained both on paper and electronic media. In the case of discrepancies between the records in the state register on paper and the electronic medium, the paper-recorded information takes precedence. If there is a discrepancy between the entries in the state register and the documents serving as the basis for state registration of rights, the documents shall take precedence.

13.12. Information about new objects arising from the division, consolidation, or separation of real estate shall be recorded in new sections of the state register. Such objects will be assigned new register numbers, and new folders for storing documents serving as the basis for the state registration of rights will be created. The new sections and folders of the state register must include references to the sections and folders related to the previously existing real estate.

Article 14. Suspension of State Registration of Rights

14.1. If the registration authority has serious doubts about the authenticity of the documents, registration may be suspended for one month.

14.2. The suspension of registration must be justified and communicated to the applicant in writing within 48 hours. In this case, the official is required to send inquiries to the relevant authorities regarding the documents in question, and the response to these inquiries must be received within 10 days. Officials who fail to respond on time to such inquiries are subject to administrative responsibility.

14.3. State registration of rights may be suspended for no more than one month upon the request of the rights holder, one of the parties to the transaction, or an authorized representative. The application must specify the reason for the suspension of the state registration of rights. The submission of such an application suspends the term set for state registration of rights.

14.4. If it is confirmed that the documents presented for registration are fraudulent, the registration authority must notify the applicant of the refusal to register the rights and make corresponding entries in the application journal.

14.5. If, within the time frame set out in Article 14.3 of this Law, the court provides information about a property being seized, a transaction prohibition, or a lawsuit from another interested party contesting the right to be registered, registration will be suspended until the case is decided by the court.

14.6. Entries regarding the suspension of state registration of rights must be made in the application journal.

Article 15. Refusal of State Registration of Rights

15.1. State registration of rights may be refused in the following cases:

15.1.1. The right for which registration is requested does not fall under state registration in accordance with this Law.

15.1.2. The documents, which do not require notarization for state registration of rights, do not meet the form and content requirements of the legislation.

15.1.3. The application for state registration of rights was submitted by an improper person.

15.1.4. An act of an executive or municipal authority regarding the establishment of a right to real estate is deemed invalid according to the established procedure.

15.1.5. The person issuing the title document for the real estate is not authorized to dispose of the right to the property.

15.1.6. The circumstances that caused the suspension of registration under Article 14 of this Law have not been eliminated.

15.2. The applicant will be notified in writing within 5 days with the justification for the refusal of state registration of rights.

Article 16. Correction of Errors in the State Register

16.1. The registration authority must correct technical errors made during the state registration of rights within 3 days after they are discovered or after receiving a statement from interested parties about such errors. Interested participants in the legal relations arising from state registration of rights must be notified in writing about the correction of errors within 48 hours.

16.2. Correcting technical errors during state registration of rights is allowed if it is assumed that this will not cause harm or violate the legal interests of the rights holder or third parties. In case of objections from the rights holder or a third party, such corrections will be made based on a court decision.

16.3. If the content of the state register does not correspond to the right over the land plot or the actual legal status regarding the restriction of this right, a person whose right has not been registered or has been incorrectly registered, or a person whose right has been violated due to the entry of a non-existent encumbrance, can require the consent of the person whose right is affected by the change.

16.4. In cases specified in Article 16.3 of this Law, a person has the right to object to the accuracy of the state register.

16.5. The entry in the state register due to an objection is made based on a court decision or the consent of the person whose right is affected by the change in the register.

16.6. Until the inaccuracy of the state register content is proven, the presumption of the accuracy and completeness of this content remains valid. An entry in the register in favor of a person who has acquired a right registered in the name of the transferor based on a contract is considered valid, except in cases where an objection is filed against this entry or the acquiring person is aware of the inaccuracy of the entry.