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PROPERTY REGISTRATION IN UZBEKISTAN

July 2011

Investment Climate Advisory Services World Bank Group

With funding from FIAS, the multi-donor investment climate advisory service

Property Registration in Uzbekistan July 2011

Igor Popiv & David Egiashvili, World Bank Group of 84

Contents

SECTION 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. 5

Background Information ............................................................................................................................................ 5

Challenges .................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Recommendations ..................................................................................................................................................... 8

Report Structure ...................................................................................................................................................... 10

SECTION 2. CURRENT LAND AND REAL ESTATE REGISTRATION IN UZBEKISTAN ...................................................................... 11

Organizational Structure of the Services ................................................................................................................. 11

Laws and Regulations .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Office Processes ...................................................................................................................................................... 14

Cadastre File (Case) ................................................................................................................................................. 15

Spatial Cadastre Data .............................................................................................................................................. 17

Policy and Institutional Arrangements .................................................................................................................... 20

Procedures .............................................................................................................................................................. 21

SECTION 3. USAGE OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES ................................................................................................ 24

City of Tashkent Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre Service .................................................................................. 24

The Service of Tashkent Oblast and Zamgotinsky Rayon ......................................................................................... 25

Other regions .......................................................................................................................................................... 26

Archives.................................................................................................................................................................... 26

Unified Cadastre ...................................................................................................................................................... 27

SECTION 4. REGISTRATION PROCESSES ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 28

Registration Process of a Commissioned Construction or an Allotted Land Plot .................................................... 28

Registration of Secondary Transactions .................................................................................................................. 31

Doing Business Report - Registration Analysis ......................................................................................................... 38

SECTION 5. BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY - PUBLIC REGISTRY REFORMS IN GEORGIA ............................................................... 42

Pre-reform status .................................................................................................................................................... 42

Property Registration Reform ................................................................................................................................. 42

SECTION 6. RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 45

Policy and Institutional Arrangements .................................................................................................................... 45

Procedures ............................................................................................................................................................... 46

Some Specific Comments ......................................................................................................................................... 46

APPENDIX 1. WORKFLOWS FOR LAND PARCEL SELECTION AND ALLOTMENT PROCESS .............................................................. 51



APPENDIX 2. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF GOSKOMZEMGEODEZCADASTRE DIVISIONS ...................................................... 53

APPENDIX 3. STATE REGISTRATION OF RIGHTS FOR LAND PARCELS, BUILDINGS AND DEPARTMENTS AND TRANSACTIONS WITH THEM .. 54

APPENDIX 4. TYPES OF TRANSACTIONS ........................................................................................................................... 57

APPENDIX 5. DOING BUSINESS: REGISTERING PROPERTY IN UZBEKISTAN ............................................................................... 67

APPENDIX 6. SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS ........................................................................................................................... 74

List of Tables

Table 1. Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Construction) ....................................................................................... 31

Table 2. State registration of rights for land parcels, buildings and departments and transactions with them .......... 54

Table 3. Types of transactions ...................................................................................................................................... 57

Table 4. Sample of Standard Property Transfer ........................................................................................................... 67

Table 5. Schedule of Meetings...................................................................................................................................... 74

List of Figures

Figure 1: Map of Uzbekistan ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Figure 2: Structure of the Service organization ............................................................................................................ 11

Figure 3: Reception department................................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 4: Registration Books for real estate properties ................................................................................................ 14

Figure 5: Registration Books for land plots ................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 6: A State Certificate for a Building .................................................................................................................... 16

Figure 7: Cadastre Materials and Cadastre Plan ........................................................................................................... 16

Figure 8: Cadastre Index and Land Use Maps ............................................................................................................... 18

Figure 9: Sample of map in CorelDraw software .......................................................................................................... 18

Figure 10: Base map in MapInfo Professional software ............................................................................................... 19

Figure 11: Archives ....................................................................................................................................................... 26

Figure 12: Registration of allotted LP in rayon (town) service of land-use and real estate cadastre ........................... 29

Figure 13: First Registration of a LP in rayon (town) service of land-use and real estate cadastre.............................. 30

Figure 14: Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Apartment) – Stage I: Extract ........................................................... 40

Figure 15: Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Apartment) – Stage II: Notarization and Registration ...................... 41

Figure 16: Selection of land parcel (LP) for the construction design ............................................................................ 51

Figure 17: Allotment of land parcel (LP) and field boundaries setting ......................................................................... 52

Figure 18: Organizational structure of Goskomzemgeodezcadastre divisions ............................................................. 53



List of Acronyms

BTI Bureau of Technical Inventory

CAD Computer Aided Drafting

DB Doing Business

GIS Geographic Information System

GoU Government of Uzbekistan

GPS Global Positioning System

HARN High Accuracy Reference Network

IFC International Finance Corporation

ILS International Land Systems

MoJ Ministry of Justice

NSDI National Spatial Data Infrastructure

TACIS Technical Assistance for the Commonwealth of Independent States

UZS Uzbekistani Soms

WBG World Bank Group

WGS World Geodetic System



Section 1. Executive Summary

The World Bank Group (WBG) is pursuing property registration reform as a component of its broader

investment climate reform efforts in Uzbekistan. Property registration was selected by the Government

of Uzbekistan (GoU) as one of the priorities for reform among the areas of business regulation measured

by the WBG’s Doing Business (DB) report. The Government of Uzbekistan has requested specific support

in the following Doing Business areas: construction permits and property registration. WBG’s fact-finding,

technical mission visited the Republic of Uzbekistan from June 20-30, 2011 to prepare a report for the

GoU to improve its property registration and transfer system with specific emphasis on the policy, legal

and institutional reforms.

The mission has met with central and local government authorities, the Chamber of Commerce as well as

private sector representatives (please see Appendix 66 for details of meetings). The mission was able to

visit Tashkent, Tashkent region and rayon registry offices that enabled the team to assess the property

registration system in the country. The consultants reviewed the current legislation and regulations in the

area of cadastre, property registration and construction permits.

Recently, the GoU made serious efforts in advancing the legal reform in the area of construction permits

which resulted in the adoption of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers #146 dated May 25, 2011

“On measures to improve regulations of land plots allocation for performing construction activities and

other non-agricultural needs”. The mission has carefully analyzed the Resolution and mapped the multi-

staged process that integrates various stakeholders. The report provides analysis of the active legislation

and regulations. The recent legislation sets a solid framework of detailed regulations for the development

of inter-agency interactions and actual implementation of the mapped information flows. The mission

was not able to evaluate the practical implementation of the Resolution and judge its efficiency due to

short time to have the Resolution turned into real actions of the concerned stakeholders.

The consultants used international best practices to advice on recommendations for a transparent and

equitable process to facilitate property administration in Uzbekistan.

Background Information

Uzbekistan is located in the middle of Central Asia and borders Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan,

Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The total area of Uzbekistan is 447,400 km2. The economy is based on

agriculture (mostly cotton and wheat farming) and natural resource extraction. The population continues

to be heavily rural and dependent on farming for its livelihood.



Figure 1: Map of Uzbekistan

According to the Doing Business 2011 report, in terms of property registration Uzbekistan is ranked 135

out of 183 countries.

It is important to note that there is a separation between ownership of land and of buildings. Despite the

fact that the country favors private ownership of apartments, buildings and residential houses, private

ownership of land (both agricultural and non-agricultural) is nonexistent, even though legislation

recognizes the terminology regarding private ownership of land. Article 18 of the Land Code allows for

transferring land into private ownership for targeted uses; namely for commercial and food security

purposes.

Household land (including a residential house with a small plot agricultural land) which is considered to

be in private ownership is actually a lifetime land use right which is inherited and can be mortgaged.

Agricultural land can be leased, but the country prohibits subleasing.

The nonexistence of land ownership acts as disincentive for investors and impedes the involvement of

land into economic activity/development of the land market. Consequently, the lack of a land market

decreases liquidity of collateral that preconditions little interest from the banking sector.

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre is a public institution subordinated to the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan

responsible for ensuring development and implementation of state policy on effective use of land

resources, regulating land issues, organizing land planning and monitoring, and maintaining and

increasing land fertility. From the institutional standpoint, all land administration responsibilities are



under Goskomzemgeodezcadastre (further might be also referred as committee). However, under the

committee there are four independent registries operating: land, residential buildings, non-residential

buildings and mortgage registry.

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre has 14 regional and 214 district level services which include cadastre,

registration, surveys and land use monitoring. Goskomzemgeodezcadastre district services have

responsibility for land management and land administration and are subordinated to two different

Institutions – Goskomzemgeodezcadastre and local government.

There is clearly an overlap between land administration and land management responsibilities held by

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre -- Land administration (cadastre and registration) functions are combined

with land management (effective use of land resources, land use monitoring, land

reclamation/conservation) responsibilities. A properly functioning system requires a clear separation of

land administration and land management responsibilities.

Challenges

A number of challenges for property registration have been identified through examining the available

materials and conducting on-site interviews and analysis. The following overview of the challenges is

detailed in the report:

Property registration as a proper legal process has not been clearly established and is covered by

multiple codes (land and civil), Cabinet of Ministers resolutions, institutional instructions and orders,

many of which are outdated and contradicting.

The registration procedures, while essentially sound in their structure, in practice have too many

manual and paper-based operations that decrease efficiency and are prone to errors.

There is very little use of information technology outside of Tashkent and the Tashkent region.

Furthermore, the technology used is not standardized, systematically supported and enhanced.

The level of qualified human resources is low and, with the lack of uniform legislation and clear

guidance for the procedures, presents significant problems especially in the rural areas.

There is no single central body under Goskomzemgeodezcadastre that would be solely responsible

for managing registration services, coordinating the interests of the various stakeholders in the

property registration, developing a strategy and implementing a plan for the future.

The registration fees are officially set and seem to cover only the minimum costs involved in the

registration process. More costs are recovered via the property assessment services, which

undoubtedly poses a significant barrier to formalization from the side of the executing agencies.



However, note that costs can be quickly recovered where there is an active land market with

reasonable registration fees.

Fees for services provided are outdated and there is no specific, long-term plan for cost recovery and

reinvestment in modern technologies.

The self-financing structure of the individual district services is not stimulating for the improvement

of the processes. Instead, this results in a survival strategy rather than a pragmatic and coordinated

development.

Current property owners and other stakeholders are most concerned with poor access to

information. This is especially a problem for realtors who have restricted access to the registry and

for banks that have trouble accessing the actual status of pledged properties.

Planning, land plot selection and construction permit procedures pose additional challenges that

adversely affect the overall functioning of the property registration system.

Most of the surveying is done by Goskomzemgeodezcadastre local offices and there is no real

involvement of private surveyors in the survey work.

It is not clear to what degree the surveys are tied to the national geodetic coordinate system nor is

the quality of the produced cadastre plans evident; especially those that are conducted on paper

maps.

The main archives are all in hard copy with no adoption of information technology to assist in their

management and usage.

Security of workspaces and records needs upgrading.

Existing registration facilities should be upgraded for customer convenience and comfort.

An improved communications strategy to reach out to current and potential customers is needed,

especially if any reform is to be undertaken.

Recommendations

Reorganizing the one-stop-shop operation to include registration and obtaining of building and use

permits will require a multi-phase approach with interventions in a number of areas. These include

streamlining legal norms and regulations, institutional and business process re-engineering, fee



rationalization, introduction of standardized information technology, strengthening human resources,

and improving physical facilities.

Specifically, we recommend the following actions that are further developed in the body of this report:

Consolidate the Institutional and Financial Aspects of Registration. International best practice

suggests merging different registration and cadastral services into a unified organization with a

consolidated account. The fee regime for the registration services should be reviewed and

restructured.

Consolidate the Legal Framework. Consolidate the legal framework for land/real estate registration

by bringing together various acts, norms and regulations for different aspects of the registration.

Modernize Procedures by Greater Use of Information Technologies. Updating and modernizing

information technology will increase efficiency, reduce mistakes, eliminate opportunities for rent

seeking, provide better access to the records, improve billing and fee collection, and allow full

auditing of registration operations. The benefits are time reduction, increased transparency, easier

transaction traceability, lower transaction costs, ease of searches, longevity of documents, and

access and sharing of the information for all stakeholders.

Revise Registration, Surveying and Mapping Procedures and Develop Registrar’s Manual. In

addition to increasing the use of ICT, business process re-engineering can eliminate some of the more

bureaucratic and manual steps that are currently causing delays and accumulating possible errors. All

procedures should be set out in a comprehensive Registrar’s Manual.

Allow Private Sector Involvement in Surveying. Greater reliance on the private sector could add to

efficiencies and stimulate development of the related services, especially in the creation of spatial

data and population of the integrated national cadastre with different thematic layers.

Government Mapping Agencies Should Focus on Standards, Quality and NSDI. With involvement of

the private sector into surveying activities, the governmental agencies will have a chance to focus on

developing data standards, quality procedures and integration of various data into NSDI (National

Spatial Data Infrastructure). Having this systematic process of NSDI will serve as the base to launch

other related activities of regional and territorial planning and facilitate local development.

Digitize Archives. Previous records need to be digitized and organized in searchable databases in

order to take full advantage of available information.

Improve Human Resources. Increase the number of qualified staff and, most critically, define,

develop and deliver the training and certification programs for registrars, administrators and

engineers of the integrated cadastre and registry.



Enhance Data Security. Building or outsourcing data processing centers should be considered in an

effort to enhance security and protect sensitive documents.

Increase Outreach. Targeted public awareness campaigns should be developed to better inform the

masses about the benefits of registration and future reforms.

Report Structure

This report consists of the following sections and appendices:

Section 1 Executive Summary

Section 2 Current Land and Real Estate Registration in Uzbekistan

Section 3 Usage of the Information Technologies

Section 4 Registration Processes Analysis

Section 5 Error! Reference source not found.

Section 6 Recommendations

Appendix 1 Workflows for Land Parcel Selection and Allotment Process

Appendix 2 Error! Not a valid bookmark self-reference.

Appendix 3 State registration of rights for land parcels, buildings and departments and transactions

with them

Appendix 4 Types of Transactions

Appendix 5 Doing Business: Registering Property in Uzbekistan

Appendix 6 Schedule of Meetings



Section 2. Current Land and Real Estate Registration in

Uzbekistan

Organizational Structure of the Services

According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers N483 dated October 19, 2004 -- “Regulation for

the State Committee on Land Resources, Geodesy, Cartography and State Cadastre” --

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre absorbed the cadastre Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI) and integrated

the responsibility for cadastre activities and for conducting the state registration of the rights for all types

of properties – buildings, constructions as well as land. The cadastre activities are conducted at the

rayon level by self-financed organizations formed by Goskomzemgeodezcadastre -- the Land Use and

Real Estate Services (further referred to as “the services”). Overall, there are 412 services in the Republic

of Uzbekistan that conduct cadastre activities while performing property registration.

The services are funded by regional administrations for land resources and state cadastre, which are part

of Goskomzemgeodezcadastre and receive budget financing (see the Goskomzemgeodezcadastre

organizational chart). The head of each rayon service is appointed by the regional land cadastre

administration with the consent of the rayon Khokim (the head of the rayon municipality). That makes a

double subordination which is not needed to conduct the state regulated cadastre and registration

duties.

The typical structure of a service organization is presented in Figure 2 and consists of the following

departments:

1. Reception

2. Registration

3. Surveying

4. Inventory and Valuation

5. Archive

6. Admin and Accounting

Service Organization

Reception ArchiveAdmin and Accounting

Inventory and Valuation

Registration Surveying

Figure 2: Structure of the Service organization



Under Resolution N483, the Services operate a single window and reception department. The front desk

receives all application documents and delivers them to the back office for processing. A typical client

service area is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Reception department

The registration department consists of an authorized registrar and at least one assistant capable of

conducting the registrar functions in case of the registrar’s absence. The registrar or his official delegate

reviews the applications and all supporting materials, registers the application in the applications

register, communicates with the surveying or inventory departments to perform the technical inspection

of the property, performs registration of the property, and prepares the registration certificate.

The surveying department must be licensed to perform survey work and be familiar with modern

surveying equipment to conduct fieldwork and produce cadastre plans. These services are provided

according to the fees established in 2006 for land, buildings and construction inventory, topographic

work, and valuation activity. The fees were recently reduced by half pursuant to the Presidential

Resolution. The surveying department is primarily established at the level of the Central Service Office of

the city of Tashkent as well as at the Tashkent oblast Central Service Office. It consists of up to 50

surveying engineers serving the needs of all rayons.

The inventory and valuation department is the largest as it conducts field inspections and collects the

technical characteristics of objects to define the value for taxation purposes1. In the city of Tashkent,

each city rayon office has at least 15 inventory engineers out of a staff of 20.

1 According to the Law of Republic of Uzbekistan on 19.08.1999 N 811-I About Valuation Activity the valuation has

become a licensed activity to be performed by nongovernmental organizations but still carried out by the Services

due to Tax authorities requests (see article 4-1: “Establishing of the the valuation organization,and also conducting

of the valuation activites by bodies of the state authority and state control are prohibited if other is not defined by

legislation”- edition of the Law introduced on 09.04.2009).



Archive department is operated by at least two persons who track the move and storage of the cadastre

files and other documents. The administrative and accounting staff consists of a chief account manager

and an assistant, a director and a deputy and some other supportive staff depending on the size and

activity within the administered rayon.

Laws and Regulations

The registration and cadastre regulations are very detailed and have been evolving over a long period of

time. They address different aspects of registration and cadastre processes. Presently, the relevant legal

and regulatory framework includes the:

Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan N666-I dated 28.01.1998 about State Land Cadastre;

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers N543 dated 31.12.1998 for Conducting of State Land Cadastre

in Republic of Uzbekistan;

Resolution of Cabinet of Ministers N278 dated 02.06.1997 for Conducting of State Cadastre of

Buildings and Constructions in Republic of Uzbekistan;

Instruction About Regulation of State Registration of Rights for Land Plots in Republic of Uzbekistan

(registered by Ministry of Justice by N736 on 27.05.1999);

Instruction About Regulation of State Registration of Buildings and Constructions (registered by

Ministry of Justice by N387 on 07.01.1998); and

Temporary Instructions about Regulation of State Registration of Hypothec (registered by Ministry of

Justice by N1798 on 25.04.2008).

In addition to these normative and regulatory documents, there are internal orders of various

organizations regulating specific aspects of registration and the maintenance of registration books. Since

these regulations were adopted, the institutions mentioned in those documents have been reorganized.

For example, Uzgeodeszadastre, State Land Committee, and BTI were merged into

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre where the registration and cadastre activities are now performed by district

level self-financed organizations formed by Goskomzemgeodezcadastre. There are no regulations on how

to register various servitudes and easements and no detailed instructions for the registrars on what to

check and verify for each specific transaction. The authority of the registrar and his responsibilities

remain vague and undefined.

The existing laws and regulations are outdated and do not comply with the actual reality on the ground.

This has already been addressed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in a notice to the

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre. MoJ is tracking the state of the documents that are registered in the MoJ

legal documents register. There is an urgent need to review the current regulations for cadastre and

registration in order to develop a uniform set of regulating documents taking into account legal,

institutional and technological aspects of the current situation as well as the future vision for land

administration in Uzbekistan. The GoU has already adopted a series of rather general laws and

resolutions concerning electronic documents, digital signatures and e-government. Nevertheless, the



usage of modern computer technology still has not been reflected in the land administration legal and

regulatory base.

Office Processes

Currently, the registration services are maintaining two main registers for real estate properties – a

cadastre book for building and construction for non-residential properties and a registry book of building

and construction records for residential properties with the following eight different supplementary

registration books (according to Instruction N387):

Registry of building and construction under republican ownership;

Registry of building and construction under join (collective) ownership;

Registry of building and construction under municipal ownership;

Registry of building and construction under private ownership;

Registry of building and construction under ownership of foreign legal and physical persons;

Registry of arrests and prohibitions;

Registry of building and construction rent; and

Registry of building and construction hypothec.

These books are manually maintained by the Service staff (see Figure 4). There are also a number of acts

and conclusions that have to be produced upon completion of property surveying (inventory).

Figure 4: Registration Books for real estate properties

In addition to these registry books, there are two more registries to track interactions with the

applicants:

Registry of reception of applications for registration of rights on buildings and constructions and

transactions with them; and

Registry of requests for information extracts.



Similar books are maintained by the Service staff for land plots. Due to the fact that land plots are not

subject to ownership rights (with the exception of special cases defined by law and related mainly to the

land of foreign and diplomatic entities), there are fewer books since the transactions with the land are

less numerous comparing to the transactions with real estate properties and apartments. The main book

for land is The State Register of the Rights for Land Plots with five different supplementary registration

books (according to Instruction N736) and one more for tracking the applications – see Figure 5:

Registry of land plots under the right of permanent possession;

Registry of land plots under the right of permanent use;

Registry of land plots under the right of lifelong inherited possession;

Registry of land plots under the right of temporal use;

Registry of land plots under the rent right; and

Registry of reception of applications for registration of rights on land plots and transactions with

them.

Figure 5: Registration Books for land plots

Maintaining the books is time consuming, extremely inefficient and prone to various manual errors. It

seems to generate little value other than serving the current operational control needs.

Cadastre File (Case)

According to the Law on State Cadastres article 16, a “Cadastre file consists of the documents, materials

and data of cadastre survey, technical inventory and categorization, special inspections and inquiries,

qualitative and cost valuation of the cadastre object necessary for formation, recording and following

state registration of the rights for the cadastre object”. This sets a cadastre file as a unique case for each



cadastre object that stores in paper form all legal and technical history of the object. Creation of new

cadastre objects requires setting a new cadastre file so the number of the cadastre files in the archive is

ever growing. Due to the fact that the land belongs to the state, the cadastre files are maintained

primarily for buildings and construction with inclusion of the land parcel on which they are located (the

land plot is under the right of rent or lifelong possession or use).

The cadastre files contain all of the technical and legal documents that are produced for the property

(land plot and the real estate objects), including state certificate for the plot under certain right

agreements for use or lease of the plot, Khokimyat decisions, certificate of inheritance, court decisions,

certificate of acquiring the right at auction or contest, hypothec and other agreements, materials for land

allocation, land cadastre and land plot plan, and plans of buildings and construction prepared and

endorsed by the cadastre service. A sample of the cadastre file documents is presented in Figure 6 and

Figure 7: Cadastre Materials and Cadastre Plan.

Figure 6: A State Certificate for a Building

Figure 7: Cadastre Materials and Cadastre Plan



Spatial Cadastre Data

One of the main principles established by the Law on State Cadastres is the use of a common system of

spatial coordinates. Goskomzemgeodezcadastre is responsible for developing and maintaining a state

cartographic-geodetic cadastre, which establishes the base maps and geodetic grid network for all of the

other surveying and spatial data production. The national coordinate system is SC-42 and the geodetic

network in SC-42 is classified information. This imposes quite a serious restriction on the ability for

different state organizations to produce spatial information. It also jeopardizes the livelihood of private

surveying companies to produce spatial data for the state cadastres because receiving classified grid

coordinates requires a license issued by the Cabinet of Ministers, and special conditions are established

for the facilities and storage where those data are located.

Within Goskomzemgeodezcadastre the base maps are prepared by the “Uzdaverloikha” enterprise. Due

to the lack of a uniform approach for modern technologies and only sporadic automation in rayon (town)

offices, the base maps are produced in paper form of 1:25000 and 1:10 000 for rural and 1:2000 and even

1:500 for urban areas and distributed to the registration and cadastre services (Figure 8: Cadastre Index

and Land Use Maps). Most critical are cadastre index maps that serve as the base to define and assign

unique cadastre numbers for every cadastre object. The delineation of the cadastre zones and quarters is

done at the local level, in many cases using the aforementioned paper maps. The degree of accuracy of

demarcations is not verified, and to what degree field surveys of the plots match the index maps cannot

be determined. Therefore, the working cadastre maps where all plots are presented are serving the need

of referencing the objects on the index maps but cannot serve as a reliable source of the exact position of

plots on the ground. However, with neighbors signing a consent on the boundaries of the plot’s cadastre

plan, legally qualifies as an object’s undisputed location according to so-called general boundaries

principles. Despite this approach satisfying the need of the registry, more efforts in aligning and

integrating the various spatial data produced through digitization of the paper maps or acquired by

modern surveying equipment will be necessary.

All of the cadastre work for land and buildings and construction outside of the cities and towns is

performed by the Rayon Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre Services. The cadastre work within towns and

cities is performed only by rayon representatives of the design-exploring enterprise “UzGASHKLITI” of

GosArchitectStroy (State Committee of Republic of Uzbekistan for architecture and construction)2. Upon

completion of the work in the settlement areas, those cadastre data produced by “UzGASHKLITI” should

be shared with Goskomzemgeodezcadastre and its rayon land cadastre departments, however, this is not

happening. Neither organization is sharing information.

2 Defined by article 67 of the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution N146 dated 25.05.2011 “On measures to improve

regulations of land plots allocation for performing construction activities and other non-agricultural needs”.



Figure 8: Cadastre Index and Land Use Maps

Some Services receive a raster image of the map and use it to obtain a printout on a large size plotter. A

sample of such a raster map received by the Tashkent region (oblast) Land Use and Real Estate Service is

presented in Figure 9 (notice the map is displayed in CorelDraw graphics design software).

Figure 9: Sample of map in CorelDraw software



The staff of the cadastre department of the Service manually outlines the land plot on the paper cadastre

index maps, and the registration department staff defines and assigns the unique cadastre number for

every new land plot, building and construction3. Using paper cadastre index maps (or even raster images)

is inaccurate and cumbersome, leading to potential errors with misplacement and overlapping of plots.

Some Services (city of Tashkent, Tashkent oblast) are using commercial GIS or internally developed

applications to maintain the cadastre index maps and working cadastre maps. Figure 10 presents a

screen with the MapInfo GIS software used at the Tashkent oblast service to automate the production of

cadastre and topographic digital plans. The Service of the city of Tashkent has been using their own

internally developed software to maintain the cadastre digital data, which they say they are gradually

migrating into ESRI ArcGIS software.

Figure 10: Base map in MapInfo Professional software

However, these solutions are not compatible among themselves nor do they match any specified and

accepted standards. This imposes difficulties building an integrated cadastre database.

Having this limited and inconsistent use of automation and different technologies used by various

authorities only partially helps in certain stages of cadastre production. These systems have not been

designed for a comprehensive technological process for data production, quality control and integration

at the central level.

3 Cadastre numbers are assigned according to the unified system of coding of the land plots, buildings and

constructions, adopted by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution on 21.01.1998 N35 “On conducting inventory and

valuation activities for buildings and constructions owned by physical persons under the right of ownership”.



Policy and Institutional Arrangements

From the institutional standpoint, land administration responsibilities are under one institution – the

Land Committee (Goskomzemgeodezcadastre). However, there are four independent registries operating

under the committee: land, residential buildings, non-residential buildings and mortgage registry. These

multiple registries for different types of property fail to meet the requirements of the registration

systems designed to meet the needs for market real estate transactions. Furthermore, multiple registries

lead to system inefficiencies affecting the quality of the services.

There is no comprehensive registration law that regulates the land and property registration issues.

According to the Instructions for Registration of Buildings, registration of non-residential buildings is

conducted by the district and regional state cadastral offices, residential buildings by bureaus of technical

inventory, and mortgages by the Ministry of Justice. Since 2005, all these responsibilities have been

integrated into the Land Committee.

Overall, the system is regarded as bureaucratic and cumbersome, and while the registration fee is low,

the total cost of a property transaction is high. According to the Doing Business report, Uzbekistan

performs poorly on the number of procedures and days for property registration; however, the cost

burden is only half of the regional average.

Even though international best practice recognizes the importance of a uniform, self-financed property

registration system, Uzbekistan has favored a strange variation of this model. Each rayon service office

(which is actually a division of Goskomzemgeodezcadastre) is a self-financed entity. The existing practice

does not promote a balanced development of the system, yet the GoU is responsible for guaranteeing a

consistent high quality of services all over the country.

A properly functioning system requires a clear separation of land administration and land management

responsibilities. In Uzbekistan, land administration (cadastre and registration) functions are combined

with land management (effective use of land resources, land use monitoring, land

reclamation/conservation) responsibilities. This naturally creates a conflict of interest from the public

administration perspective. Such a mixing of land management with the registration functions can create

disincentives for registration, since the land institutions often use the registration system as a policing

mechanism rather than as a focus to support land transactions. There is always a fear that the

registration system and data gathering will be used to police compliance with other administrative and

regulatory provisions regarding real estate, such as building codes, building permits, taxation, and other

requirements. This can give rise to a black, off-the-books market in real estate transactions. This is a

common phenomenon worldwide, and where it occurs the registration system soon does not reflect the

situation on the ground, and is thus ineffective for both monitoring and management.

Roles also overlap with the functions assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture. The government strictly

controls farming in the country. Farmers are required by the municipality to grow specific crops. The



state purchases 100% of cotton produced in the country and 50% of wheat with prices fixed by the

government. The state controls land use in Uzbekistan far more than in most other countries. This

creates tension between the state registration system and the land monitoring and management system.

Here again, the registration functions are in conflict with the management systems, and rather than

being a tool to support market-based real estate transactions, the registration system becomes a policing

tool. The fact that the head of the district Cadastral and Registration Service is appointed with the

agreement of the local government bodies, makes these services dependent on and accountable to

municipalities, compromising the independent functions of the registration system. In general, land use

monitoring is the responsibility of the municipality and should not be linked with the transaction process.

Moreover, the cost of monitoring should not be borne by the customer.

Another problem is that customers are required to submit a new land survey for every transaction, even

where there is no change in the configuration of the parcel. This redundancy and only adds time and

expense to real estate transactions without adding any value and is vulnerable to corruption.

Although the law recognizes the institute of private land surveyors and the government licenses private

surveyors engaged in surveying activities, this system is poorly developed and the state cadastral offices

compete with the private sector in providing survey services. Consequently, the private surveyors are in

a disadvantaged position vis-a-vis government institutions that provide surveying services. For example,

there are no private land surveying companies in Tashkent that are involved in cadastral surveys. Such

companies are primarily performing geodetic and topographic surveys for construction, road and

infrastructure projects. Private land surveying companies have very little chance to develop and

penetrate into the real estate market.

Procedures

While the registration services of different entities have been integrated into the Land Committee

(Goskomzemgeodezcadastre) since 2005, the registries still operate as independent services. A unified

registry implies the existence of one “land book” that registers real estate and all rights related to this

property as well as property restrictions. As already discussed, the registration service of Uzbekistan

keeps separate land books for mortgage, municipality property, private buildings, leased buildings,

jointly-owned buildings, property transferred for management, state buildings, and foreigner-owned

property. These are essentially separate registries that violate the whole concept of a unified registry. In

countries where there is a unified registry, the status of a land title and the existing encumbrances and

their relative priorities can be easily determined by consulting the single registry. In countries where

multiple books need to be consulted, the procedure is time consuming and subject to errors.

Moreover, in Uzbekistan the various registries are not compatible since they have not been developed

according to the pre-defined standards. This complicates the integration of the data into a central

database.



Inadequate differentiation of roles and responsibilities among state institutions leads to ineffective and

extremely bureaucratic procedures. For example, each transaction requires an inspection of the

property, submission of an updated land survey, and cadastral documentation. Almost 90% of

registration time is spent on compiling cadastral documents. The cost of cadastral works is determined

only after the data processing. As a result, the applicant has to visit the cadastral office once again to

ascertain what must be paid for the cadastral services.

Article 2 of Chapter 1 of the state provisional instructions for mortgage registration from 2008 requires

the borrower and lender to notarize the mortgage agreement. This should not be a mandatory

requirement. Stakeholders should be able to save time and additional costs by signing the agreement at

the registration service. It should be underlined that although the law does not provide for this

requirement, existing practice obliges the borrower to notarize the lending agreement.

Owners/users’ obligations towards state or other institutions should not be linked with the registration

system. Notarization of the contract requires submission of all paid utility bills. Utility payments should

not be policed by the state in the course of a property transaction. Firstly, it is unfair and belongs to a

completely different field of management; secondly, it reduces an owner’s obligations to pay utility bills if

he/she is not interested in a property transaction. Such requirements negatively affect property

registration and complicate and delay the process.

According to the law, an ownership right arises after registering the transaction at the registry service

within one month of the actual transaction of the property. However, because of the aforementioned

deficiencies in the registration system, most persons engaged in real estate transactions ignore the

registration requirement. Consequently, their rights to the property are not recognized or secured by the

state, cannot be identified by others interested in a transaction regarding a piece of property, and a black

market may emerge. In addition, failure to register may lead to multiple sales of the same property by

the recorded owner.

Legally, the state requires registration of a property after the acceptance of the building into operation

by state authorities. This creates an additional constraint for the already poorly developed real estate

market. The right to the real estate is already existent when it formally emerges, i.e. when the state has

approved the construction design and issued construction permission to the applicant/customer. From

this moment, the building under construction or its part, is already involved in real estate market and is

available for sale. About 40% of apartments are sold before the construction is finished and the building

is put into operation. This is an accepted practice in the region. In fact, people prefer to buy buildings

under construction as their price is much lower. This mainly refers to multi-story buildings and require

registration even before they are approved for operation. Otherwise, the rights of a buyer are only

secured with a purchase agreement that does not guarantee the ownership right and the property can

easily be sold several times to other buyers leading to disputes and potential loss of property.



Demand for registration and cadastre information is huge. However, there is no clear procedure for

obtaining such information. If the registration system was functioning properly, it could be a significant

source of income for the Service as many state organizations (e.g. courts, tax agency, Ministry of

Statistics, others) request information from the cadastre and registration service and currently receive

this information free of charge. In jurisdictions with a well-functioning land and real estate market, fees

collected by the registry for the provision of information provide sufficient revenues for the organization

to be self-sustaining, and often generate additional revenue to contribute to the general budget of the

government.

At the central level, the task of unifying the cadastre is split between two organizations – the National

Center of Geodesy and Cartography and the “Uzgiprozem" Institute. The National Center is developing

the cadastre database for central buildings and construction, while the "Uzgiprozem" Institute is

developing a central cadastre database for land. This contradicts the principle of unification and these

two cadastres should be consolidated.

The success of any effort to create an effective registration system to support transactions in land and

other real estate will be largely based on the public’s willingness to participate in the process.

International experience illustrates that citizens resist providing information to data collectors because

they fear that the information might be used in detrimental ways. Changing laws and issuing new

decrees will not be enough to overcome this reluctance. There will have to be a focused and

sophisticated information and outreach campaign that educates people regarding the benefits of

registration and instills confidence in the process.

In addition, registration services employees will need to be trained on land and registration laws, the

administrative structure for registration and land management, obligations and responsibilities of the

different organizations, the purposes of registration to support market transactions as well as to improve

land management and administration, the detailed procedures to be followed in the daily operations of

the registration service, and the technology deployed to implement the system.



Section 3. Usage of the Information Technologies

City of Tashkent Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre Service

As has already been noted, the registration process performed by the registration departments of the

Services is fully paper-based with the registration books manually completed. However, market pressure

and the need to quickly respond to requests for information by the public as well as other agencies

(courts, tax authorities, statistics, etc.) have forced some of the self-financed services to invest in modern

technologies. Visiting the city of Tashkent Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre Service, we found that the

organization has established a rather modern infrastructure:

It has a central office and 11 branches in each of the city rayons;

Each rayon has online access to the central database of the Service;

Every branch has a client software application for a central Microsoft SQL Server enabling

registration, inventory and valuation data entry into a central common database for every

transaction concerning a residential property;

The central database contains references to the owners and their rights back to 1992 when

privatization of the properties (apartments and buildings) and their registration first started;

There is established communication with the city tax authority enabling a regular remote electronic

exchange of updated records over the period (for example new owners, etc.);

The department of geodesy is located in the central office and builds cadastre plans and maps in

1:500 scale (use AutoCad, MapInfo and ArcGIS);

There is a graphics software developed internally by the Service IT specialists that integrates working

cadastre layers and some auxiliary layers (streets, historical objects, etc.) and that serves the purpose

of quality control for the location of the registered parcels;

The inventory of non-residential properties is maintained within 1C Enterprise commercial, off-the-

shelf software;

All software development and implementation was funded by the Service generated revenue and

there was no Goskomzemgeodezcadastre involvement in the conceptual design or implementation of

these IT applications.

This IT infrastructure allows the Service to process 300-350 non-residential property transactions per day

(half of those are secondary transactions), 500-600 residential property transactions per day (from



citizens) and conduct inventory and valuation of 40-50 objects per week. The data for the past two years

presents a growing trend on the real estate market – in 2010, there were 213,000 transactions (140,000

applications related to residential properties and 73,000 to non-residential.) In 2009, the overall number

was 180,000.

The interaction with notaries, courts and other agencies is still in paper form, but the extracts are

generated out of the central database.

The Service of Tashkent Oblast and Zamgotinsky Rayon

A similar situation with IT modernization was observed at the Service of the Tashkent oblast and the

Service of the Zamgotinsky rayon. In 14 rayons and 4 towns of the Tashkent oblast, there are about

500,000 residential and 400,000 non-residential objects, of which 60% are registered and up to 250,000

are recorded in the ILS UzLR database. Goskomzemgeodezcadastre took the lead and initiated the

computerization through a European Technical Assistance for the Commonwealth of Independent States

(TACIS) donor program with its last phase finished in 2007. Upon finishing the donor program,

commercial software ILS UzLR 2.2 was customized for registration processes automation. That enabled

Goskomzemgeodezcadastre to build a unified registry of all types of properties (land, residential and non-

residential) and all rights and restrictions related to the property. The UzLR central database is installed

at the oblast service office with 14 oblast rayon services offices connected to that central database

through the UzLR client application.

The software controls uniqueness of the cadastre numbers and generates various reports and extracts. It

also supports printing of the registration certificates. However, the registration books are filled in and

maintained manually and continue to serve as the only legal source of the registration records. The UzLR

system stores references of each property in manual book records. Due to the shortage of the generated

revenue, the Services have not been able to upgrade UzLR since 2007. This software upgrade effort

requires state assistance as well to collect specific inventory data and valuation of the properties.

Some statistics provided for the Zamgotinsky rayon (one of 14) illustrates the level of revenue generated

by a rayon office. On average per month, the rayon service performs 300-350 registrations and up to 200-

250 extracts. Monthly total revenue of the rayon service registration department is about 4 Mil. UZS,

generated through registration and extract fees. Considering the staffing situation (one registrar and two

registrar’s assistants, two reception staff, two archive staff and a few of administrative staff), this

revenue distributed equals about 500 000 UZS per employee (about $300 according to the official

exchange rate) and serves only to cover the labor and operational costs with no reserve for any

modernization.

The oblast central office is in slightly better shape as it is able to generate higher revenue through its

topographic department with a license requirement for mapping production and all of the modern

surveying equipment to conduct fieldwork and produce cadastre plans for all oblasts.



Other regions

The TACIS program has provided the same UzLR software to the Samarkand oblast and Khoresm. We

understand that Samarkand continues to use the software. It also appears that some software has been

developed locally at the Karakalpakstan autonomous republic. The National Center of Geodesy and

Cartography is using UzLR to integrate all real estate registration records into one central database.

However, it faces numerous problems concerning the lack of access to the data -- even digitized data for

the city of Tashkent are not compliant and need to be converted before being loaded into the integrated

UzLR storage.

_____________________

Archives

In city of Tashkent service, there are about 600,000 registered residential properties (including houses

and apartments). Each of these objects has its own cadastre file kept in the archives of the rayon offices.

The cadastre files for non-residential properties are stored in the archive of the central office. These

archives are already quite full and given the overall growth trend, will need to be expanded. A similar

situation was observed in the rayon services (see Figure 11). Along with the fact that some documents

are unique and in some cases can be lost (for example fire or earthquake), it is evident that introduction

of a computerized document management system is required to provide easier access to the records and

their backup to digital format.

Figure 11: Archives

At present, each file stored in the archive is indexed in a separate archive application (we have seen it in

Excel) as well as in the manual archive registry which references the key file attributes (such as address of

the property) to the location at the archive shelf (line, row).



Archive files are used daily to check existing files and populate the files with new documents, but there is

no backup technology like microfilming or scanning4. The city of Tashkent service has been contemplating

the scanning of archives but considers that a major capital investment for required equipment and labor.

Also, such a project implies implementation of a document scanning IT solution that should follow

international best practices. Oblast services, in fact, have the scanning and indexing software available as

part of the UzLR functionality, but they have neither the resources nor the equipment to begin such

efforts. The ongoing need to access archived records to extract information will continue to present a

significant roadblock to increasing the efficiency of the registration processes.

Unified Cadastre

The services are also responsible for surveying land plots as well as maintaining an inventory of buildings,

apartments and construction. These functions are regulated by separate instructions – one for

conducting the State Land Cadastre, and one for the state cadastre of the buildings and construction.

Those activities are done by different groups of specialists in the Services; the surveying requires special

geodetic equipment and license while inventory is performed by former BTI engineers. There is no

established regular flow of information from rayons/towns to the central cadastre databank maintained

at the Goskomzemgeodezcadastre central level. As noted earlier, the task of building an integrated

cadastre is split between two Goskomzemgeodezcadastre subordinate organizations – the National

Center of Geodesy and Cartography and “Uzdaverloikha” (former Giprozem). Both organizations are part

of different central branches (see the Committee organization chart in Figure 18: Organizational

structure of Goskomzemgeodezcadastre divisions) and there is no coordination between the

organizations in conceptual designs and data models. Having the central databases developed and

maintained by different organizations without coordination introduces not only duplication of the efforts

but prevents detection of possible inconsistencies and errors by cross-referencing the information. One

such immediate verification would be to check the right holder(s) of the land plot and the building on the

plot. More rigorous checks might be performed when cadastre plans of the plots and outlines of buildings

and construction are available in digital form and referenced in the same state coordinate system (CK-

42). There is an urgent need to design a unified cadastre, which would integrate spatial data for the land

plots, buildings and construction as well as present their actual legal status established through

registration. The unified cadastre would also serve as the base layer for other types of land cadastre

information – land use and land quality (bonitets) mapping and control, land valuation, protective zones,

irrigation, etc.

4There is a Law of Republic of Uzbekistan “About Archival Business” (N 252 15.06. 2010) which defines insurance

copy of the archive document to which scanning of the original document is related.



Section 4. Registration Processes Analysis

According to Article 13 of the Law on State Cadastres, state registration of the rights for the cadastre

objects is obligatory for all owners and beneficiaries of the other rights for the cadastre objects. A

classification of rights and restrictions that have to be registered are presented in the Appendix 4 - Types

of Transactions. The law does not stipulate a penalty for not registering objects but provides security for

the properties with the registered rights. Registration is required if an owner or a beneficiary of the rights

wishes to transfer or pledge the property, or to fix his/her rights in a modified property after receiving a

permit for its physical extension or reconstruction. As a result, in urban areas, the majority of real estate

properties have been recorded in the registries. However, according to an unofficial evaluation, there

are about 1 million illegal residential buildings and constructions (meaning no permits received and no

registration conducted) in Uzbekistan. Those are located mainly in so-called “makhallya5” areas of cities

and in rural areas.

Registration Process of a Commissioned Construction or an Allotted Land Plot

The registration process is rather straightforward and consists of a series of the following macro steps:

1. Review the application and its supporting materials;

2. Register the application in the applications register;

3. If needed, review the cadastre plan for the property to define and assign a cadastre number;

4. Communicate cadastre number to the inventory/surveying department for including into the

operational cadastre map;

5. Finalize the registration of the property by filling out the registration books; and

6. Prepare the registration certificate (two copies).

This process is mapped out in Figure 12 and involves all departments of the Service.

5 Makhallya are densely populated settlements based on artisan or national criterion and closely ruled according to

the internal customs (at the beginning of XX century in Tashkent there were up to 200 makhallya).



Figure 12: Registration of allotted LP in rayon (town) service of land-use and real estate cadastre

The key assumption for this process is that it comes right after the lengthy process of the land plot

allotment or the acceptance of the constructed building by a special Khokimyat commission. That means

Registration of allotted LP in rayon (town) service of land-utilization and fixed property cadastre

Department of Real

Estate Cadastre

Department of

Reception and

Delivery

Archive Department Registration

Department

Applicant

(Legal or Private

Person)

Application for

registration of right of

LP usage

Supplement to

application materials:

- Kokimyat Decision

for allotment;

- Acts of Endorsement

and field boundaries

setting;

-Payment of the

registration due fee

Check-out application

and list of the

supplementary

materials. Record into

Registry of Applications

Validate technical

documentation and the

need to do field

inspection

Check-out content of

the legal documents on

LP allotment

Define and assign

cadastre number

Enter assigned

cadastre number in

working cadastre plan Record into State

Register of Rights for

Land Plots

Layout boundaries of

the LP at the working

cadastre plan

Enter records into

relevant registration

books

Registration Certificate

Printing

Record indexes into

archive registry book

Deliver materials for

the Applicant Storing

cadastre file in

Archive

Submit data to

department for

land resources

and state cadastre

of rayon (town)

Term of registration up to 10 days

(For legal persons – 3 days)

Formation of

the cadastre

file (dossier) –

2 copies

Formation of the

registration part

of the cadastre

file (dossier) –

2 copies

Receiving registration

certificate and 2nd

copy of the cadastre

file

Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre Service

(Self financed organization at rayon/town level)



the object cadastre documentation has been recently prepared by a licensed surveyor and reflects the

actual object state, so there is no reason to spend any time on the object on-site inspection. In such a

case, the registration takes 10 days for a physical person and up to 3 days for a legal entity.

For the properties that do not have a cadastre plan and technical documentation, the overall process

takes at least 40 days. The time is required for a licensed surveyor of the Service to do the fieldwork,

set/survey actual boundaries and obtain the property neighbors’ consent on setting the boundaries. This

more general process, which includes property demarcation and preparation of the cadastre plan and

technical materials, is presented in Figure 13: First Registration of a LP in rayon (town) service of land-use and

real estate cadastre

Figure 13: First Registration of a LP in rayon (town) service of land-use and real estate cadastre

1st

Registration of a LP in rayon (town) service of land-utilization and real estate cadastre

Commercial Bank Khokimyat of rayon

(town)

(Authority of territory)

Applicant

(Legal or Private

Person)


Department

Department of Real

Estate Cadastre

Department of

Reception and

Delivery


and the supplementary



Validate technical

documentation define

the payment for the

field work service

Record indexes into


Visit field and have the

boundaries to be

signed on with every

neighbor

Define the date for field

inspection


the Applicant

Check the payment

and notify Applicant

about the date of the

field visit

Storing

cadastre file in

Archive

Application for

Cadastre File

formation and setting

boundaries in the field

Decision for LP

allotment stating the

purpose of the usage

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt


certificate and 2nd


file

Payment thru the bank

for the field work

services

Delivery of the receipt

to the office

The applicant will have

to have neighbors

ready at the date of

the cadastre engineer

visit

Visit the field and

survey the Land Plot

and setting the

boundaries

Prepare the cadastre

plan

Payment thru the bank

for the registration of

the LP

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Filing application for

LP registration and

deliver with the receipt

to the office

Formation of

the cadastre

file (dossier) –

2 copies

Check the application

and the payment

Record into State

Register of Rights for

Land Plots

Define and assign

cadastre number

Adding

registration

documents to

the cadastre file -

2 copies

Enter records into


books


Printing


the legal documents

on LP allotment

Layout boundaries of

the LP at the working

cadastre plan

Enter assigned

cadastre number in

working cadastre plan





Registration of Secondary Transactions

The registration process is more complicated for secondary transactions in cases when the object might

have been modified since its previous registration. In fact, any reconstruction or change to the property’s

physical characteristics should legally be done upon receiving the permit and updating of the cadastre

plan. Considering very few owners apply for registration when the object changes, the secondary

transactions become more complicated than the straightforward process reviewed above. In general, the

process of the secondary transaction is divided into three stages. The first stage is to receive an extract

for the property showing its current title status and verify the object’s actual state as presented by the

registered records and cadastre plan stored in the Service cadastre file. The second stage is to legalize the

transfer agreement between the Grantor and Grantee. The final stage is to apply for registration of the

new legal status (new rights holder/beneficiary or/and new encumbrance) of the property. The details of

the stages are described below in Table 1. A diagram of the workflow steps of the first stage mapped in

Figure 14 and the second and final stages are presented in Figure 15.

Table 1. Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Construction)

No. Procedure Agency Time to

Complete

Stage I – Extract

1 Payment of a fee at a commercial bank for obtaining an extract

from the State Registry.

A

commercial

bank (in the

City of

Tashkent it

is located in

the same

building

floor as the

Service)

1 day

The service fee is paid to the settlement account of the

cadastral services through a bank. The seller pays the fee for

the services before applying at the Cadastral Service office.

2 The seller applies for the extract concerning the real property

at the Service office of the district.

The Service

office

Same day

The seller submits the application and the bank receipt

confirming the payment of the service fee (obtained in

Procedure (1) through the single window reception

department of the district service.




Complete

3 Review the extract application and the requested property

status and perform an inspection of the property to determine

its actual state and compliance with the cadastre file. Prepare

the extract.

The Service

office

3 days – for

legal entities;

For physical

persons:

10 days for

apartment;

30 days for

building

As presented in the diagram, the application comes through

the reception and is recorded into the registry of the requests

for extracts. It is then forwarded to the registration

department for a preliminary examination. The examination

has to check that the requested property is not in the registry

of suspensions and prohibitions. If it is, the extract is not

provided and the applicant is only notified if any transactions

with the property are suspended. To avoid fraudulent actions

(i.e. trying to conclude and notarize several transfer contracts

with the same property) it is also checked if there were any

other extracts provided in the last 30 days (i.e. the term of the

validity of the extract). If so, then the extract is not provided.

Upon completion of these checks, the request goes to the

Service inventory staff to visit the property and confirm its

current state and compliance with the cadastre records stored

in the archive. In case any major modifications are identified

either in the building construction or land plot area, the extract

will not be provided. Instead, a notice is prepared for the

applicant informing them to apply for the legalization of the

modifications. That may involve applying at the Khokimyat

one-stop-shop to receive a permit for the modifications (see

the Land Selection and Permitting process workflow). After

receiving all legal decisions, the cadastre plan is updated and

the modifications are registered (the process is presented as

Land Allocation workflow). Only after the cadastre file records

are in full compliance with the actual state of the property,

may the applicant (Grantor) apply for the extract to start the

transfer of the property to the Grantee.

Once the actual state of the property is compliant with the




Complete

cadastre documentation, the Service prepares the extract and

provides it to the applicant. The Service records the issuance of

the extract in the registry of issued extracts.

The extract includes the details about the property holder’s

name, type of person (legal or physical), type of property,

address and location, type of right, main technical parameters

of the property and land plot, registered rights and restrictions

and the references to the State Registry records. The extract is

effective for 1 month.

Stage II – Notarization of the Transfer

4 Collecting all debt clearance statements from the municipal

service agencies

Municipal

and local

service

agencies,

tax

authority

From 7 to 30+

days

If the transfer is between two physical persons and related to a

residential property, the Grantor must clear the property of all

debts for the communal and utilities services such as

electricity, water, heating, telephone, building service,

passport registry on other family members living at the

property, gas lines, sewage and some other. Some services are

using the provision of such clearance statements as means to

enforce the maintenance of the meters inside of the

apartment or building (such as water supply).

For the family members registered for the same property

(there is a so-called institution of the citizens’ household

registration by address of living performed by a district

passport office) the written consent for the transfer will have

to be received.

We were told there are two ways for the Grantor to deal with

this situation – one is official and another is to involve an agent

(realtor). The official procedure to request the debt clearance

statements takes at least 3-4 days per each agency statement.

Obtaining some statements requires presenting of other

agencies statements. The entire process may take up to 30

days. The other option, through a realtor, costs more for the




Complete

agreed on service and takes about 7 days.

For a legal entity, the entire process is simplified because the

property recorded in the company books and the debt status is

checked by an audit.

5 Payment of state fees and notarization costs at a commercial

bank

Commercial

bank

1 day

The cost of notarization is paid to the state budget as only

state notaries operate in Uzbekistan. Note that the current

minimum monthly wage (MMW) is UZS 49,735 and most of the

state fees are defined as a percentage of the current MMW.

The fee for notarization of the real estate property transfer

agreements depends on the building/construction area (2% of

the MMW per sq.m of the property) and about 72-80% goes to

the notaries, 10-15% to the Justice Department and the

remaining amount is a stamp duty (the exact percentage

depends on the type of the transaction and persons involved –

legal or physical).

6 Notarization of the transfer agreement between the Grantor

and Grantee

State

notary

1-3 days

The sale agreement is notarized by a state notary. To notarize

the sale agreement, the following is required:

- Present the original Grantor certificate of registration as

well as the valid Extract of the State Registry;

- The transfer contract;

- The acceptance act which certifies the completion of the

financial arrangement between the Grantor and Grantee;

- The company establishment documents and passports;

- The debt clearance statement of the prescribed list of the

municipal and local agencies (9 in Tashkent);




Complete

- The consent of the persons registered at the address of

the transferred property.

There is no legal requirement for the contract of a transfer of a

building and land plot to be prepared by a lawyer. The parties

may prepare the contract themselves or use a model contract

for a specific type of transfer. However, under the Uzbek

legislation, all economic contracts with the cost exceeding 200

minimum monthly wages shall be concluded only after the

issuance of a lawyer's legal opinion on the contract. The legal

opinion shall be made either by an in-house lawyer or by an

advocate. The Grantor and the Grantee sign and seal the

transfer contract and the acceptance act. There is no standard

or specific form established for the acceptance act. According

to the Civil Code, the parties shall sign an acceptance act or any

other document on the transfer of real property from the

Grantor and the Grantee. The companies may use a lawyer to

prepare the acceptance act that might charge between UZS

10,000 and 30,000.

At the same time, the notary will notarize the copies of

company establishment documents (in the case of a limited

liability company, these would be charter and company

establishment agreement) of the Grantor and the Grantee. The

originals of the company establishment documents shall be

presented to the notary. The notary makes copies of the

original documents and notarizes them.

Another specific duty of the state notary is to verify the

absence of debts on the property by checking all of the debt

clearance statement received by the Grantor in Procedure 4.

The notary has to verify that all of the related to the Seller

persons (family members) have endorsed in writing the

property transfer.

At the completion of this procedure, the Grantee receives the

cadastre file from the Grantor and all of the notarized

documents to apply for the property registration in the name

of the Grantee.




Complete

Stage III –Registration of the Transfer

7 The Grantee pays the registration fee at a commercial bank Commercial

Bank

1 day

The registration fee (amounting to half of the Minimum

Monthly Wage, i.e. = UZS 24,867) shall be paid by the Grantee

to the account of the office for the registration of transfer of

the property rights in the real estate. The payment shall be

made prior to the application for registration. The Grantee will

need to provide the registration office with the payment

receipt.

8 Grantee applies for registration at the Registration Office The Service

office

Same day

The Grantee shall apply to the District (City) Office of The

Cadastre Service (in this case, it will be the Service of Land-

Utilization and Real-Estate Cadastre of the city of Tashkent) for

state registration of the transfer of title. He/she should

produce the original sale agreement as well as the other

documents required, including:

- Transfer agreement;

- Acceptance Act as the certificate of the arrangement

between the parties taking place under the Transfer

Agreement;

- Extract for the property (prepared in Procedure 3);

- Grantor’s cadastral package of documents (obtained from

Grantor at the completion of Procedure 6) including:

(a) A certificate of the right of the Grantor to the

building/land plot

(b) The inventory (cadastral) plans of the land and the

building




Complete

- Application (in the established form);

- The notarized copies of foundation documents (in case of

a Limited Liability Company, these are Charter and

Foundation Agreement) of the Grantor and the Grantee or

(obtained in Procedure 5);

- The document establishing the right of ownership for the

building. This document is not compulsory for submission

of the secondary registration which we present here,

however, usually this document must be in possession of

the owner of the building; and

- Bank receipt confirming payment of registration fee

(obtained in Procedure 7).

9 The Service office issues a registration certificate with the

name of the Grantee

The Service

office

10 days

for

physical

persons

3 days for

legal

entities

The Grantee’s application is reviewed by the registration office.

The registrar inspects the authenticity of the presented

documents, including verification through the database,

registers the transaction electronically in the cadastral book

and issues the certificate of title registration to the new owner.

The district (city) service office enters the new information into

the district (city) cadastre book for non-residential properties,

the district (city) registry book for residential properties (of the

buildings and constructions) and the state registry for the land

plot rights. The registrar also records all information in the

relevant supplementary registration books (see chapter Office

Processes).

The registrar terminates the certificate of registration of the

property recorded in the name of the Grantor and issues a new

registration certificate in the name of Grantee. After the

registration, the following documents included in the cadastral

package are provided to the Grantee:




Complete

(1) Cadastral document (file) of the building, with the new

certificate of registration of the right of ownership to the

building;

(2) Cadastral document (file) of the land plot with the

certificate of registration of the right of lease to the land plot;

(3) Cadastral plan of the building;

(4) Cadastral plan of the land plot;

(5) The lease contract for the land plot between the new lessee

(the Grantor) and the Khokimiyat (local government); and

(6) The original registration certificate establishing the right of

ownership to the building (the one submitted to the registry)

and the certificate for the right registered for the land plot with

the name of the Grantee.

The cadastre file has the other original version of the new

documents stored in the office archive.

10 Submit the cadastral package to the local tax authorities Local tax

authorities

2-3 days

In the city of Tashkent, the Service submits the information

concerning the change of the registration records for the

property to the local tax authorities in order to update the land

and property taxation records for new taxpayer.

Overall, the process of a property transfer may take a minimum of 35-40 days for a physical person and a

minimum of 10 days for legal entities (considering the legal entities do not need procedures 4 and 5; and

procedure 9 is performed faster for legal entities).

Doing Business Report - Registration Analysis

As part of the World Bank mission assessment, there a specific property transfer case reviewed in the

Doing Business report (http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/uzbekistan/registering-

property). The presented case assumes the transfer of the existing property (land and the construction

on it) from one legal entity to another. The case assumes that the Seller has all legal and technical

documents for the properties in order (a registration certificate for ownership on the construction, a

registration certificate for land lease agreement, and cadastre documentation on the construction and

the land plot). For that particular case, the above general secondary transaction process executes in



rather straightforward sequence of steps. The details of the case’s related steps are presented in

Appendix 5. Doing Business: Registering Property in Uzbekistan.

The summary for the case is about 10 days for the completion of the transfer of the land plot and the

construction on it, and receiving the registration certificates for the construction and the land plot with

the Buyer’s name within 8 steps. The difference between these results and what was presented by the

Doing Business report (see

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/uzbekistan/#registering-property) is due to the

Doing Business analysis including a few extra steps from the general secondary transaction process,

which are not applicable for this particular property case transfer. Specifically, they included steps 4, 5

and 6 (inspection of the property, preparation of the cadastre plan and neighbor consent on the

boundaries, and issuing of the registration for the Seller) which took more than 50 days, but are not

applicable for the particular case of transferring an existing registered property with all of the

documentation in place. Those steps are applicable only if the Sellers have not previously registered the

properties or if their cadastre documentation is either missing or found to be incompliant with the actual

state of the property.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/uzbekistan/#registering-property

WBG of 84

Igor Popiv & David Egiashvili June 2011

Figure 14: Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Apartment) – Stage I: Extract

Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Apartment) – Stage I: Extract

Commercial Bank

Grantee

(Private Person -

Buyer)Archive Department Archive Department

Registration

Department

Department of Real

Estate Cadastre

Department of

Reception and

Delivery

Tax Agency and

Various Utilities and

Services Agency

Grantor

(Private Person -

Seller)

State Notary

Prepare the Extract

out of the State

Registry

Receiving Extract out

of the State Registry

Register the Extract in

the Registry of the

issued Extracts and

add the Extract to the

Cadastre File

Application for an

Extract of the State

Registry

Check-out records for

the property in State

Registry and other

registries

Record in the Cadastre

File that the actual

state of the property is

not matching the

registered plans of the

property

Visit the field and

inspect the property on

compliance with the

Cadastre File records/

plan


and the payment.

Record into Registry of

Applications

Storing

cadastre file in

Archive

Deliver Extract to the

Applicant



Payment for the

Extract of the State

Registry for the

property – state fee

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Is property

under arrest?Yes

Has there

Extract been

issued within last

month?

Yes

No

No

Is property

matching the

plan?

Yes

No

Prepare notification of

the Applicant

End of Stage I -

Extract

Applicant is notified

that his property has

been modified and

the modifications will

have to be officially

permitted and

registered before

applying for receiving

an extract and

proceed with the

transfer

The Grantor

will have to apply

for the property

modification

registration

before applying

for the registration of

the transfer

No other extracts

allowed within a month

No transactions are

allowed with the

property

WBG of 84

Igor Popiv & David Egiashvili June 2011

Figure 15: Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Apartment) – Stage II: Notarization and Registration

Transfer of the Real Estate (Building/Apartment) – Stage II: Notarization and Registration


Department

Department of Real

Estate Cadastre

Department of

Reception and

Delivery

Grantee

(Private Person -

Buyer)

Grantee

(Private Person -

Buyer)

Grantor

(Private Person -

Seller)

Grantor

(Private Person -

Seller)State NotaryState NotaryCommercial Bank Commercial Bank

Tax Agency and


Services Agency

Tax Agency and


Services Agency



Collect all debt

clearance statements,

Cadastre File, Extract

of the Registry and

prepare the Transfer

Agreement to apply for

notarization

Applying to various

agencies to confirm no

debts are over the

property

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Continuing of the

Transfer Process –

Stage II

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Each Agency prepares

Statement on the

Property and Owner

debt status

Pay the due

notarization fees

including state fee,

notary services and

stamp duty

Notary checks all of

the documents

provided

Is everything

OK?

- No Debts

- Extract

- Persons

- Fees

Notarize the transfer

agreement

Yes

No

Both Parties or their

attorney will have to

come to the notary

Grantor transfers to

Grantee all of the

documents for the

property:

- Cadastre File

- Notarized Transfer

Agreement

Grantee receives all of

the documents for the

property and begins

registration in its name

from paying the due

fee for the registration

Bank receives

payment and issue

receipt

Pay the

registration fee

Apply for the property

registration with all of

the supplementary

documents

Formation of the

registration part

of the cadastre

file (dossier) –

2 copies

Enter records into


books


the Applicant

Submit data:

- to department for

land resources

and state cadastre

of rayon (town);

- to tax authority.

Storing

updated

cadastre file in

Archive

Record indexes into



Printing with the name

of the Grantee

Record right holder

(Grantee) name into

State Register of

Rights for Land Plots


and list of the

supplementary




the notarized transfer

agreement and the

Seller’s cadastre file.

Validate technical

documentation and the

need to do field

inspection (in case the

registration is within a

month after the Extract

the field inspection is

not needed)


certificate and 2nd


fileEnd of the Transfer

Process –

Registration

Completed

Fix the problem and

reapply to the notary



Section 5. Best Practice Case Study - Public Registry Reforms

in Georgia

The mission has considered best practices for registration reforms and identified Georgia as a case study

since Georgia is similar to Uzbekistan in being a post-Soviet country. Reforms implemented in its property

registry ranked it as top reformer in the Doing Business Report 2006. In 2010 - 2011 ranked Georgia as

second in the world on the property registration.

Pre-reform status

From 1998-2004 property registration in Georgia was performed by two different institutions; the Technical

Bureau of Inventory and the Georgian State Department of Land Management. This caused great confusion

for the general public. The State Department of Land Management (SDLM) was the responsible institution

for land administration and land management, creating a conflict of interest in terms of public

management.

Besides the need to refer to different institutions for registration, the procedures were vague and not

clearly defined. For example, the timeline of registration was not specified and the office used the general

administrative code that allowed one month for issuing certificate (usually violated). Document flow in the

registration offices was chaotic, going through unnecessary administrative chains of control leading to

inefficient use of time and human resources.

The State Department of Land Management, directly subordinated to the Government, had a wide range of

responsibilities and functions, including registration of property rights and maintaining the cadastre,

privatization of state owned land, leasing of state owned land, categorization and valuation of land for

taxation purposes, compiling land statistics, controlling the use of land and natural resources, mediating

land disputes and other land management tasks. Some of these responsibilities conflicted with each other

which lead to corrupt practices. In addition, roles and responsibilities of SDLM were overlapping with some

other government entities: Ministry of State Property Management, Ministry of Urbanization and

Construction, Bureau of Technical Inventory, State Department of Geodesy and Cartography, Ministry of

Agriculture and the Chamber of Public Notaries. Moreover, the local offices of SDLM were accountable to

the local authorities which led to serious political influence over land valuation, registration and land

dispute processes.

A persistent lack of funding (SDLM was State funded) created serious constraints for SDLM in performing its

services. For consumers -- individuals as well as legal entities -- the registration process was very

complicated and time-consuming. Citizens had to pay many official or unofficial fees. According to Doing

Business 2005 (reflecting the situation prior to 2004), registration of property required 8 procedures, 39

days and the cost was 2.5% of property value.

Property Registration Reform

After the Rose Revolution the government launched radical reforms in the country and initiated large anti-

corruption measures. A working group was established within the SDLM for developing a reform strategy



and drafting new legislation. Its guiding principles were securing registration and recognition of property

rights subject to legal registration; ensuring accessibility of Public Registry information, and establishing a

unified, customer-oriented processes and systems for information about property. This was the ideology of

the reform.

The cadastre and registration system reform had four main pillars: institutional, legislative, administrative

and technological.

The first phase of the reforms focused on legal and institutional issues that took almost 10 months. In June

2004 the Parliament approved the Law on State Registry. In line with the structural reorganization of the

Government of Georgia, the State Department of Land Management was liquidated and the National

Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) was established under the Ministry of Justice as a self-financing public

legal entity. Some of the duties and responsibilities of the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI) were

absorbed by the NAPR. Currently the role of BTI is limited to serving as a repository of the registry archives

in Tbilisi. The land management functions of the SDLM were shifted to the Ministry of Environment and

Ministry of Agriculture, and the surveying service was transferred to the private sector. The new structure

allowed the NAPR to become a self-sustainable agency. The creation of the NAPR practically provided a

basis for the establishment of a new registration system. Land management offices have been transformed

into regional registration offices which are free from the influence of the local government. The central

government is responsible for the registration of property rights.

In December 2004 the Law on Registration Fees for Services of the National Agency of Public Registry was

approved. This law defined the fees chargeable by the NAPR for its services and established a specific

timeline for the provision of these services. With the exception of agricultural land registration, the fees

under the new law were slightly higher than the official fees charged by the SDLM. To eliminate the

corruption in the registration process, customers had the ability to refer to the fee schedule and payment

terms of the law. NAPR introduced expedited services with increased fees for those customers that were

willing to pay extra to register their property in a day. The processing of all payments was transferred to the

commercial banks, and the agency discontinued the fee payment practice at the registry.

Through the institutional reform the agency created a one-stop-shop for customers that significantly

simplified the registration procedures and offered improved services. Currently customers apply only to the

National Agency of Public Registry, instead of the BTIs, the Chamber of Notary and the Land Management

Office. By optimizing registration procedures the time period for registration was significantly shortened.

Registration fees were also differentiated based on the complexity of the application. Registration of

municipal properties as well as registration of real estate under construction was added to the system.

In terms of the administrative reform, the agency selected qualified professionals through a qualification

exams system, and the recruited staff were offered increased salaries. The administrative reform included

dramatic changes. The old management of the SDLM was terminated. The staff moved to the new registry,

but had to apply for their positions and take an exam to retain their positions. A massive recruitment

campaign launched through the mass media invited all interested candidates to apply. NAPR conducted

over 3,000 examinations. The average salary of an SDLM employees of 41 GEL ($23) in 2003 was increased

to 740 GEL ($411) in 2005. This increase was possible due to the introduction of the new registration fee



system. For further professional development of the of NAPR staff, qualification, training and workshops

were regularly conducted.

NAPR began the process of centralization of the information and structuring the registry. The accountability

of the local offices was shifted from the local governments to the NAPR central office. The maintenance of

the information was transferred to the information management center. Accounting and procurement was

conducted through the NAPR central office.

The main objective of the technological reform was the development of a registration software, integration

of the registration offices into an electronic network; creation of a unique database for the system;

accessibility of information through the internet; online operation and assurance of disclosure of

information. The registration software called NAPReg was developed based on an Oracle database

interface with mapping information produced through an ESRI (GIS software provider) based format.

Integration of the cadastral data for the whole country (that is, ortho-photos, satellite photos and other

electronic data) was undertaken with the assistance of donor funding and placed on the server. Currently,

the information can be accessed through an NAPR web-page (www.napr.gov.ge). The database allows

searches by name, surname, address, cadastral code, registration number and by any specification implied

by the database. It also provides information on the existence of liens on properties.

The new set of legislative amendments from December 19, 2008 unified all regulations for the registration

of rights on movable property (in relation to lease and pledge agreements), thus simplifying all property

registration procedures for applicants. Registration of rights on movable property and approval of

signatures on agreements are done immediately after application. It takes three days to issue a mortgage

certificate, make changes to it and register restrictions on property. Registration of rights to immovable

property takes 4 days; and registration of a proprietary right to land takes 10 days. Standard fees were

replaced by expedited procedures for eleven different activities of the registry. As a result, all

aforementioned procedures can be accomplished in one day, for a special fee.



Section 6. Recommendations

Policy and Institutional Arrangements

It is critical that the GoU develop an overall strategy for the reform of the land registration and cadastre

system that will clearly identify a vision and an action plan for institutional, financial and technological

enhancements. Although various public organizations in Uzbekistan have commented on the importance of

reforms, it is unclear what they mean by the reform, what accomplishments they are targeting to achieve

and what tools they are planning to use.

The GoU should adopt a new law on property registration, followed by specific regulations and by-laws

improving the organizational and methodological support for the registration services.

The GoU should initiate the establishment of the private land ownership system in the country. At this

initial stage, the government can start by privatizing the land under the buildings. There is little sense in

keeping land under the private commercial constructions as well as residential buildings in state ownership.

All of the cadastre and registration services should be reorganized into a single, self-financed national

registration and cadastre agency.

The registration and cadastre agency should maintain and administer an integrated national cadastre of the

immovable property.

The registration and cadastre agency should prepare and issue, as a legal normative act, standards for the

digital cadastral survey data submitted by the private sector.

The registration and cadastre agency should enable electronic data exchange with other organizations to

speed up the process of registration and eliminate extracts of compliances provided by other organizations

(notaries, tax agency, Ministry of Architecture and Construction).

The registration and cadastre agency should work with the related institutions on designing, developing

and maintaining the Unified System of State Cadastres.

Services of the cadastral surveys should be transferred to the private sector. Although, theoretically the

coexistence of the state and private land survey systems is possible, as a practical matter, it does not work

due to the lack of free and open competition.

The method for calculating service fees should be revised to ensure financial sustainability and efficient

operation of the institution, as well as fair and affordable charges for public;

Initiate capacity building activities. Employees of the concerned agencies should be regularly trained in the

technical as well as legal issues in order to improve the quality of the services provided by the state to the

public. A public awareness campaign should be launched that will increase clients’ understanding of their

rights and obligations.



Procedures

Surveying of already registered properties should be eliminated unless there is a change in the

configuration of the property boundaries. The system should have confidence in the registry records.

This will save resources and time.

Laws and regulations need to be elaborated (which is currently nonexistent) which will clearly define

the list of documents required for registration of rights that will eliminate the practice of requesting

additional documentation by the registry offices.

The government should facilitate development of a Land Registration Manual. The employees of

registration services should be trained using this manual as a guideline for registration to ensure

consistency to the standard procedures all over the country.

Requirement of registering property within 30 days from the date of the transaction should be clearly

stated in the sale-purchase contract. Notaries also have to inform buyers about this requirement.

Separate registries in the cadastre and registration services should be integrated using computer

technologies.

The registries should be integrated with the cadastre using modern GIS technologies.

Data about old transactions should be scanned and maintained in an electronic format for easy tracking

(mainly involves data from BTI).

Some Specific Comments

The analysis of the registration process (Section 4. Registration Processes Analysis) exposed one of the

most cumbersome steps for a grantor to obtain all required debt clearance statements for the property as

well as for the grantor. This is step 4 of the Stage II (Notarization of the Transfer) according to the

description of the process in Table 1. Moreover, as we have learned from various interviews, the notaries

are not able to perform the thorough and responsible verification of the Grantor’s debt status. It has been

admitted that this verification is rather superficial and the notaries are at best simply counting the number

of statements required and have no ability to verify the authenticity of documents.

Due to this situation, we recommend that notaries and the registration service drop this inappropriate

function. Understanding the need to ensure that the local utilities and services are adequately and timely

compensated by households and apartments owners, we recommend that local municipal authorities set

procedures and allocate resources for tracking the debt status of every local service consumer. The local

municipalities will have to define mechanisms, including appeal to the court, for repayments or other

means of receiving compensation. That will enable municipalities to take more control over their

jurisdictions and at the same time generate timely inflow payments from all owners, not only those

transferring their property. The municipalities may even appeal to the court and apply to the registration



service for establishing a prohibition on the property transfer. Furthermore, it would allow the potential

Grantees to verify the property’s debt status at the municipality one-stop-shop.

The property registration fee in Uzbekistan is calculated as a percentage of a minimum salary which

unfortunately may not be a fair representation of actual costs. According to international experience,

registration fees could be based on the property value, if the documents being registered resulted from a

transaction, or could be based on the actual cost of the services provided by the registration office. Since

there is no efficient and transparent property valuation system, it is better to link the fee to the cost of the

services provided. Note, however, that countries that have recently introduced title registration systems

have discovered that charging high fees for first registration can cause the public to avoid the first

registration and delay it until the prospect of the sale or transfer secondary transaction. This is because

even a flat rate fee for first registration is an involuntary, unrecoverable cost and hence a disincentive to

registering the title. Governments are reluctant to waive fees for first registration and forgo the potential

revenue that first registration can generate. However, international experience has shown that

governments that do not charge fees on first-time registrations, or charge only very low, nominal fees,

quickly recover their investments on subsequent transactions, increased property tax collection, and

economic growth through real estate transactions and finance. Low initial registration fees also remove a

significant disincentive to registration and consequently result in greater coverage for the cadastre as a

whole. In Uzbekistan, the fee is determined by the GoU and would not require an amendment of legislation

by the Majlis.

The following table suggests which reform actions should be undertaken in the short-term vs longer-term.

Short-term recommendations:

Recommendation Type of

recommendation

Problem addressed by the

recommendation

Create intergovernmental working group that

will come up with Unified Property

Registration Strategy

Strategy Nonexistence of vision and unified

Property Registration Strategy

Develop a Strategy for Unified Property

Registration Institution to separate land

administration and land management

responsibilities

Strategy Nonexistence of vision and unified

Property Registration Strategy

Consolidate different legal documents and

regulations into a single law

Legal Reform Fragmented and outdated

legislative framework

Transfer land surveying responsibilities form

state to the private sector to support the

development of private land surveyors

Institutional

Reform

Government limiting competition in

land surveying and monopolizing

service

Assess training needs for the employees of the Human Resources Low skill levels in registration



Registration Offices offices

Conduct regular trainings for the employees of

registration services based on identified needs

(possibly on respective legislation, registration

procedures, etc)

Human Resources Low skill levels in registration

offices

Establish government program for providing

computer equipment and network

infrastructure to all cadastre services of

Uzbekistan

IT Lack of computer equipment and

inability by the cadastre services to

self-generate enough revenue for

the investments

Initiate a Public Awareness Campaign to

educate public on the benefits of property

registration. Maintain a hotline to track the

quality of the services provided to the public

Public Outreach Lack of public awareness on rights

and responsibilities regarding

land/real estate

Longer-term recommendations:

Recommendation Type of

recommendation

Problem addressed by the

recommendation

Standardize the procedures for processing

every type of the registration transactions

Legal Reform No detailed registration procedures.

This leads to inconsistencies in

interpreting various instructions and

regulations

Develop Registration Guideline/Manual for

Registrars

Legal Reform No Registration Guideline/Manual

for Registrars that results in

inconsistencies in the various

registration offices

Notaries and the registration services should

be removed of the duty to check the debt

clearance statements for the Grantor and the

property upon registration

Legal Reform Requirements for utility payments

for the registration of property

extends the timeline for registration

Define regulations and procedures for

municipalities to apply with registration of the

prohibitions for the properties, which have

failed to compensate the due payments for

the consumed utilities (power, water, sewage,

etc.) and related auxiliary services

Legal Reform Municipalities are not able to collect

due payments for the utilities

provided to households/apartments



Prepare a strategy for the development of a

pledge registry

Legal Reform Undeveloped pledge registry

Unify registration of the property sale and

hypothec regulations

Legal Reform Undeveloped hypothec regulations

that leads to specific legal problems

during the sale of the property

through hypothec financing

Allow private sector involvement in surveying.

Greater reliance on the private sector could

add to efficiencies and stimulate development

of the related services especially in the

creation of spatial data and populating the

integrated national cadastre with different

thematic layers

Institutional reform Cadastre services and GUP

“UzGASHKLITI” of GosArchitectStroy

have monopolized the production of

the surveying plans for properties

Focus government mapping institutions on

standards, quality and NSDI. The government

should focus on producing base maps and

validating and integrating the data produced

by private licensed surveyors

Institutional reform Cadastre services and GUP

“UzGASHKLITI” of GosArchitectStroy

have monopolized the production of

the surveying plans for properties

Create one self-financed institution for unified

and centralized cadastre and registration for

buildings and land

Institutional and

Financial Reform

Different registries exist for

different properties and maintained

by different self-financed semi-

autonomous services

Recalculate tariff system to be consistent with

ongoing developments

Financial Reform Current tariff system is inadequate

for operation of the self-financing

institution

Build a strong capacity for ongoing training,

support and maintenance of the system and

users. Establish regular training and

certification programs for cadastre and

registration offices staff.

Human Resources Lack of appreciation by the public

institutions that the property

cadastre and market development

will require continuous efforts in

building capacity and education of

staff and public

Develop/introduce a standardized registration

and cadastre software application that would

integrate work processes within offices as well

as enable continuous online accumulation of

the data at the central office

IT Non existence of standardized

registration and cadastre

application software



Digitize and unify different records into a

unified cadastre-registration system; integrate

data into a central database

IT Paper-based manual registration

and cadastre with disconnected and

incompatible automation. Data are

stored in separate registries/books

and are not unified

Design and implement governmental program

of digital- (vector-) based and indexed maps

development for usage by all cadastre services

and licensed surveyors in producing the detail

cadastre maps of the land plots

Mapping Cadastre services are using paper or

raster index maps which serves as a

poor base for geo-referencing land

plot boundaries



Appendix 1. Workflows for Land Parcel Selection and Allotment Process

(Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers #146 dated 25 May 2011)

Figure 16: Selection of land parcel (LP) for the construction design

Selection of land parcel (LP) for the construction design whilst absent urban construction documentation or its presence

Architecture of territory

(Department

(Administration) of

architecture and

construction)

Architecture of territory

(Department

(Administration) of

architecture and

construction)

Commission of

territory

(Commission for

allocation of LP)

Commission of

territory

(Commission for

allocation of LP)

Architecture of

Region

(Main Administration of

Architecture and

Construction of

Region)

Architecture of

Region


Architecture and

Construction of

Region)

Main Design

Institute

(Main design-survey

institute)

Main Design

Institute

(Main design-survey

institute)

These activities are not engaged when

urban development plans are available

and then LP selection endorsement is

performed by Architecture of territory

Permitting

organizations

(More then six

different

organizations)

Permitting

organizations

(More then six

different

organizations)

State Cadastre of

territory

(Department

(Administration) for

land resources and

state cadastre)

State Cadastre of

territory

(Department


land resources and

state cadastre)

Cadastre Service of

territory

(Service for land-

utilization and real

estate cadastre)

Cadastre Service of

territory

(Service for land-


estate cadastre)

Authority of territory

– Khokimyat

of rayon (town)


– Khokimyat

of rayon (town)

Designer

(Designing

Organization)

Designer

(Designing

Organization)

Applicant

(Legal or Private

Person)

Applicant

(Legal or Private

Person)

ApplicationReview

(3 days)

Proposal

preparation for

allocation of LP with

base plan

Endorsement with

more than six

organizations

Taking part in the

commission to

endorse the

proposal

Taking part in the

commission to

endorse the

proposal

Taking part in the

commission to

endorse the

proposal

Prepare materials

for allocation of LP

Notice on the day of

joint meeting of the

Region Commission

(2 days)

Region Commission

endorsement of the

LP allocation

(5 days)

Science-Technical

Council of the

Institute for

endorsement

Endorsement

Protocol preparation

with topo-plan of LP

allocation

(7 days)

Preparation of

endorsed materials

for LP allocation for

delivery

(1 day)

Preparation of Materials for

Rayon Commission selection

of LP within urban areas

Preparation of

conclusion on LP

selection

(7 days)

Preparation of

conclusion on LP

selection

(7 days)

Preparation of Materials

for Rayon Commission

selection of LP outside

of the urban areas

Review materials and

prepare Protocol of

Endorsement and

Conclusion on LP

selection

(3 days)

Preparation of dossier (file)

on selection of LP (3 copies)

– within urban areas

Preparation of dossier

(file) on selection of LP

(3 copies) – outside of

urban areas

Payment for

dossier on

selection of LP

Review and

approve decision

for LP selection

(3 days)

Receiving

Decision and

Dossier on

selection of LP

End of 1st

Stage

Start 1st

Stage

Contract for

construction design

development

Start of 2nd

Phase

Preparation of materials to

endorse selection of LP

Receiving

Conclusion on

Ecological

Impact

Evaluation –

ZVOZ

(contracting

licensed

company)

10 days for proposal endorsement

11 Days to coordinate the

selection of LP



Figure 17: Allotment of land parcel (LP) and field boundaries setting

Allotment of land parcel (LP) and field boundaries setting

Applicant

(Legal or Private

Person)

Applicant

(Legal or Private

Person)

Architecture of

territory

(Department

(Administration) of

architecture and

construction)

Architecture of

territory

(Department

(Administration) of

architecture and

construction)

Designer

(Designing

Organization)

Designer

(Designing

Organization)

Main Design Institute

(Main design-survey

institute)

Main Design Institute

(Main design-survey

institute)

Architecture of

Region


Architecture and

Construction of

Region)

Architecture of

Region


Architecture and

Construction of

Region)

Khokim of Region

and Region

Commission

Khokim of Region

and Region

Commission

State Cadastre of

territory

(Department


land resources and

state cadastre)

State Cadastre of

territory

(Department


land resources and

state cadastre)

Cadastre Service of

territory

(Service for land-


estate cadastre)

Cadastre Service of

territory

(Service for land-


estate cadastre)

Commission of

territory (Commission

for allocation of LP)

Commission of

territory (Commission

for allocation of LP)


– Khokimyat

of rayon (town)


– Khokimyat

of rayon (town)

Receive materials

for LP allotment

outside of urban

areas

Take part in

Commission and

signing off the

boundaries

Design Development

and Monitoring

Receive materials

for LP allotment

within urban areas

Review

(3 days)

Application for right of

LP usage

Start of the 2nd

Stage

of LP Allotment

Contract for

construction design

developmentConclude

Contract for

construction

design

development

Monitoring of

progress and

timeline of the

design development

Approval of the

construction design

(7 days)

Construction Design

prepared

State examination of the design

(According to the regulations)

Receiving design,

approval and

state examination

Application for LP

allotment with

supplementary

materials

Conclude

Contract of

preparation of the

documents for

allotment

According to Contract

preparation of the

materials for LP allotment

(Up to 15 days)

Review and approval of

the LP allotment

materials

(3 days)

Decision for LP

allotment and file

formation for LP

allotment and field

boundaries setting

(3 days)

Review by Region

Khokim (3 days) and Region

Commission

(5 days)

In cases when decision on LP is not within authority of Khokim of rayon (town)

Setting LP Boundaries in

field

Preparation of

documents stating the

rights to use LP

РREGISTRATION

OF USAGE RIGHT

End of 2nd

Stage of LP

Allotment

Application and

payment for setting

boundaries in the field

Later will have to be

approved by decision of

Kengash deputies (local

elected council)



Appendix 2. Organizational Structure of Goskomzemgeodezcadastre Divisions

Figure 18: Organizational structure of Goskomzemgeodezcadastre divisions Chairman of the

Committee

First Deputy Chairman

Deputy Chairman

Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography

State Cadastral Authority

Geodesy and Cartography Department

Unified system of state cadastres department

State Border Delimitation and Demarcation

Department

State Cadastre of Buildings and Constructions

Departments

National Center of the Geodesy and Cartography

Self-supporting Services of Land Use and Real Estate

Cadastres of AR Karakalpakstan, regions

and Tashkent

Samarkand aero-geodesic enterprise

State Scientific Production Enterprise “Cartography”

Central aero-geodesic enterprise

Administration of land use and land management

Administration of the land use and land protection

control

Department of the regulating of land relations and land

management

Land monitoring department

Department of pre-project, project works and

expertise

Department of the land use and land protection

control

Department of State Land Cadastre

State research institute for Soil Science and

Agricultural Chemistry

State Scientific Production Institute “Uzdaverloikha”

State Unitary Enterprise GUP “GeoInformCadastre”

Administration of economic, finances and

accounting

Main Human Resources specialist

Legal expert

Special department

Disposal of business affairs

Administration of the land resources and State

Cadastre of AR Karakalpakstan, regions

and Tashkent

State inspection of the geodesic control

Entities in charge

Oblast and Rayon offices of State Land Cadastre



Appendix 3. State registration of rights for land parcels, buildings and departments and

transactions with them

Table 2. State registration of rights for land parcels, buildings and departments and transactions with them

# Region

Rights for land parcels Rights for buildings and constructions Mortgage contracts

Tota

l re

gist

rati

on

fee

s, t

hs

of

UZS

Urban and township

lands

Lands of other

territories

Department

al objects

Individual

housing

Privatized

apartments

Nonresidenti

al buildings

and

construction

Rights for

land parcels

Rights for

buildings and

construction

Nu

mb

er o

f la

nd

par

cels

Tota

l are

a, h

a

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f la

nd

par

cels

Tota

l are

a, h

a

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f o

bje

cts

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f o

bje

cts

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f o

bje

cts

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f o

bje

cts

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f co

ntr

acts

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

Nu

mb

er o

f co

ntr

acts

Reg

istr

atio

n f

ees,

th

s

of

UZS

1 Karakalpaksta

n Region 2099

18237.

6 6920

25600.

7 4601

18697.

5 2764

27714.

6 698 628.3 90878.7

2

Andijon

Viloyati

(Province)

2176 410.4 10834.

9 2517 659.7

14324.

6 188 3715.5 8636

35885.

4 905 3929.2 3807

31477.

6 1581

12770.

9

199703.

6

3 Buxoro

Viloyati 371 228.1 2249.3 301 264.6 1927.8 269 2442.8 3802

20946.

0 3310

17799.

3 1407 8341.7 139 626.9 210 951.8 55285.6



(Province)

4 Jizzax Viloyati

(Province) 1113 245.9 9384.6 645 527.4 6654.6 136 3762.1 2919

11399.

5 3149

12714.

0 2007

17565.

0 667 7380.7 68860.5

5

Qashqadaryo

Viloyati

(Province)

4422 27708.

8 62 7498.0 2971

15403.

1 2872 9494.4 2177

22509.

6 589 9395.2 92009.1

6

Navoiy

Viloyati

(Province)

1348 27.5 5898.1 35 3035.8 658.5 56 1259.4 2673 16502.

7 5736

35556.

9 2113

20935.

5 2 39.6 1373

12779.

7 93630.4

7

Namangan

Viloyati

(Province)

138 94.4 1830.9 67 23.4 379.8 87 1355.5 4309 21668.

0 4346

22014.

1 2188

18391.

7 265 210.7 507 4406.3 70257.0

8

Samarqand

Viloyati

(Province)

6663 2540.2 45318.

3 76 363.6 580.0 113 2014.3 7483

42069.

8 5026

23817.

1 2818

42434.

4 2 0.8 965 8907.6

165142.

2

9

Sirdaryo

Viloyati

(Province) 186 24.8 849.6 90 538.2 515.9 6 116.8 4005

22344.

3 2684 9846.9 1957

14034.

6 199 2411.2

50119.3

1

0

Surxondaryo

Viloyati

(Province) 2584 288.9

15431.

0 10 31.6 143.0 1694 6711.2 834 3470.1 890 8719.8 126 1081.2

35556.4

1

1

Toshkent

Shahri

(Province) 1666 9152.2

16361.

3 552 6580.5 6605.3 1 2770.0 19929

89245.

4 8802

37056.

8 2916

177320

.8 1369

15150.

9

344510.

5



1

2

Farg'ona

Viloyati

(Province) 2732 499.4

19400.

6 1392 5281.0

12243.

2 79 2046.6 7918

69336.

1 10631

68670.

9 3076

40049.

0 1183

17119.

9

273652.

4

1

3

Xorazm

Viloyati

(Province) 3810 1571.8

23175.

9 2865 9576.1

22111.

3 167 2950.3 3792

15497.

3 2922

12208.

4 2521

24896.

8 5 22.8 786

10432.

6

111295.

4

1

4

Toshkent

Shahri (City) 3571 2885.1

41412.

0 286 3559.0 10144

39121.

0 38659

141188

.0 3555

40517.

0 1508

20956.

0

286753.

0

Total: 32879

17968.

8

238092

.8 8550

26881.

9

66144.

1 1450

33490.

2 87195

431730

.5 94477

416463

.6 34196

494908

.1 413 900.8 11761

124372

.3

1937654

.0



Appendix 4. Types of Transactions

Table 3. Types of transactions

Right

Category

# Right or Restriction Legal Norm Legal

Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

Rig

hts

of

Lega

l an

d In

div

idu

al P

erso

ns

on

lan

d p

arce

ls

1. Permanent ownership Article 20 of Land

Code

YES YES Permanent ownership is certified by State Act on the permanent ownership of

the land parcel

2. Permanent use Article 20 of Land

Code

YES YES Permanent use is certified by State Act on the right of permanent use of the

land parcel

3. Urgent (temporary) use Article 20 of Land

Code

YES YES

4. Lease Article 20 of Land

Code, Article 535

of Civil Code;

Article 5 of Law

“On lease"

YES YES Terms and conditions of lease of land parcels are determined by agreement

between the parties and secured by this agreement. Sublease of the leased land

parcel or its part shall be prohibited, except cases provided by law. (Part of Law

of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 30.08.2003, N 535-II)

5. Property Articles 16, 18 of

Land Code

NO,

except

special

cases*

NO,

except

special

cases*

The right of ownership of legal persons and individuals on land parcels arises in

the way prescribed by law, during privatization of the sale and service objects

along with the land on which these objects are located.

* The right of ownership of foreign legal entities and individuals on land parcels

(members of the diplomatic bodies, representatives of the printed media



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

accredited in the Republic of Uzbekistan, members of permanent

representative offices of firms, companies and international organizations,

individuals working on a permanent basis in the enterprises with foreign

investment, as well as those residing in the country and have a residence

permit, arises during realization of the housing premises in the way prescribed

by law, together with the land parcels on which these premises are located. See

Sections 1, 7, Chapter 29 of the Civil Code.

6. Perpetual inheritable

possession

Article 19 of Land

Code

NO YES Perpetual inheritable possession is certified by State Act on the right of

perpetual inheritable possession of the land parcels.

Encu

mb

ran

ces

of

Rig

hts

fo

r th

e la

nd

par

cels

1. Prohibition of sale or

another disposal of

property

Article 29 of Land

Code

YES YES Encumbrances associated with land parcel are added into its legal status,

subject to State registration and saved during transition of this parcel to the

possession of other person.

2. Prohibition of sublease

and subcontract

YES YES In the case described in section 10 of Article 51 of Land Code – about Lease.

3. Prohibition of change

the main target

purpose

YES YES

4. Prohibition of some

activity categories

YES YES



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

5. Encumbrance with

condition to implement

the measures needed

for soil preservation

and improve soil

fertility, maintain the

irrigation and

reclamation systems in

the perfect state

YES YES

6. Encumbrance with

condition to begin and

complete building or

land parcel

development in

specified period

YES YES

7. Encumbrance with

condition to comply

with the nature-

conservative

requirements

YES YES Carry out certain works, including storing of soil cover, rare plants, State nature

monuments, as well as objects of material cultural heritage available on the

land parcel.



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

8. Other obligations YES YES Land parcel may be associated with another obligation, limitation or term

established by law.

9. Mortgage YES YES It occurs when the mortgage received on the building and land parcel on which

this building is located.

10. Lease YES YES For lessor.

11. Arrest YES YES

12. Protection zones YES YES The protection zones are established by authority decisions in accordance with

the regulations of exploitation of infrastructure objects.

Serv

itu

des

1. Easement on the pass

or transit through

another's land parcel

Article 30 of Land

Code

Article 173 of

Civil Code

YES YES Right of limited use of someone else’s land parcel (easement) – right of limited

use of one or several neighbouring land parcels.

An easement is established by agreement between the parties requiring the

establishment of an easement and the owner, user, leaseholder, owner of a

foreign land parcel. In case of failure to reach such an agreement, an easement

is established by a court decision.

An easement agreement is subject to State registration and saved during land

2. Servitude of drainage

work on the foreign

land parcel;

YES YES



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

3. Servitude of cabling

and using of the

transmission facilities,

telecommunications;

and

Pipelines, irrigation,

engineering and other

lines and networks on a

foreign land parcel.

YES YES transfer to another person. An easement agreement may be terminated in case

of termination of the grounds on which basis this easement was established.

4. Servitude of water

intake and watering on

a foreign land parcel.

YES YES

5. Servitude of driving

cattle through a foreign

land.

YES YES

6. Easement of temporary

use someone else’s

land parcel for

production and

exploration, research

YES YES



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

and other activities.

7. Easement of creating

protective forest

plantations and other

conservation objects

on a foreign land.

Easement may be also

established for other

purposes.

YES YES

8. Entrusted

administration of

property

СТ.СТ.849-854 YES YES Related to the life inheritable possession of a land parcel.

Pri

vate

Pro

per

ty (

Bu

ildin

gs a

nd

Co

nst

ruct

ion

s)

1. Private ownership Articles 164, 207,

208, 209, 213,

214, 215, 216 of

Civil Code)

YES** YES Article 207. Private ownership right

Private ownership right is a right of possesion, use and disposal of property

acquired in accordance with the law.

** Article 208. Parties of the private ownership right

Parties of the private ownership are citizens, business partnerships and

companies, cooperatives, associations, social funds and other private legal

entities.



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

2. Common ownership Article 216 of

Civil Code

YES YES The property owned by two or more individuals belongs them on common

ownership right.

Ownership can be held in equal or unequal shares (ownership in common) or

without definition of such shares (joint ownership).

Common property ownership is shared except cases when joint tenancy is

stipulated by law.

3. Operating control Articles 165, 178,

181 of Civil Code

YES NO An unitary enterprise or institution to which the owner allots the property,

gains the right of economic management or right of operating control of the

property by law or by owner’s decision.

4. Economic management Articles 165, 176,

177, 181 of Civil

Code

YES NO

5. Lease Article 537 YES YES



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

6. Entrusted

administration of

property

Articles 849-854 YES YES Under a contract of trust management of property, one party (founder of

administration) gives to another party (entrusted administrator) the property in

entrusted administration for a certain period, and this second party is obligated

to administer this property for the benefit of the founder of administration or

an individual specified by the founder (the beneficiary).

The property being in economic management or operating control cannot be

transferred to entrusted administration.

The transfer of real estate into entrusted administration is subject to State

registration in the same manner as the transfer of title for this property. See

Article 84 of Civil Code.

Pu

blic

Pro

per

ty

1. Republican ownership Article 214 of

Civil Code

NO NO Article 213. The concept of public ownership

Public ownership is state ownership that consists of republican ownership and

administrative-territorial formations (municipal ownership).

The property in republican ownership can be alloted to legal entities on the

basis of economic management or operating control right.

Refer to Article 14 of Civil Code.

Objects of republican ownership can be alienated to the private ownership in

the manner and on terms established by law.



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

Refer to law “On denationalization and privatization”; Regulation on

denationalization and privatization of state ownership objects, approved by the

Cabinet of Ministers 21.07.2006, # 145.

2. Municipal ownership Article 215 of

Civil Code

NO NO The property being in municipal ownership are managed by local government

authorities or authorized agencies, if different is not provided by law.

See Articles 22, 23 of law “On property in the Republic of Uzbekistan”.

The property being in municipal ownership can be alloted to legal entities on

the basis of economic management or operating control right.

See Article 14 of Civil Code.

Encu

mb

ran

ces

of

Rig

hts

fo

r

Bu

ildin

gs a

nd

Co

nst

ruct

ion

s

1. Mortgage YES YES Together with land parcels on which building or construction is located.

2. Lease YES YES For lesser

3. Prohibition of

alienation

YES YES

4. Arrest YES YES



Right

Category


Persons

Physical

Persons

Comment

5. Special conditions of

exploitation,

conservation zones

YES YES Monuments of cultural heritage, etc.



Appendix 5. Doing Business: Registering Property in Uzbekistan

As part of the World Bank mission assessment, there a specific property transfer case reviewed in the Doing Business report

(http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/uzbekistan/registering-property). The presented case assumes the transfer of the existing property (land

and the construction on it) from one legal entity to another. The case assumes that the Seller has all legal and technical documents for the properties in order (a

registration certificate for ownership on the construction, a registration certificate for land lease agreement, and cadastre documentation on the construction and

the land plot). For that particular case, the above general secondary transaction process executes in rather straightforward sequence of steps. The details of the

case’s related steps are presented in Appendix 5. Doing Business: Registering Property in Uzbekistan.

The summary for the case is about 10 days for the completion of the transfer of the land plot and the construction on it, and receiving the registration certificates for

the construction and the land plot with the Buyer’s name within 8 steps. The difference between these results and what was presented by the Doing Business report

(see http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/uzbekistan/#registering-property) is due to the Doing Business analysis including a few extra steps from

the general secondary transaction process, which are not applicable for this particular property case transfer. Specifically, they included steps 4, 5 and 6 (inspection of

the property, preparation of the cadastre plan and neighbor consent on the boundaries, and issuing of the registration for the Seller) which took more than 50 days,

but are not applicable for the particular case of transferring an existing registered property with all of the documentation in place. Those steps are applicable only if

the Sellers have not previously registered the properties or if their cadastre documentation is either missing or found to be incompliant with the actual state of the

property.

Below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase

land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

Table 4. Sample of Standard Property Transfer. Property Value: UZS 86,877,515.55. City: Tashkent

No. Procedure Agency Time to Complete Associated

Costs

1 Payment of the fee at a commercial bank for provision of the Extract out of the State Commercial 1 day ~UZS 10,000

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/uzbekistan/#registering-property




Costs

Registry Bank (in the

City of

Tashkent it is

located in the

same building

floor as the

Cadastre

Service)

(20% of the

minimum

monthly wage)

as the service

fee for an

extract of the

State Registry

The service fee is paid to the settlement account of the cadastral services through a

bank. The seller pays the fee for the services before applying at the Cadastral Service

office.

2

Seller applies for the Extract about real property at the Cadastral Service office of the

city district

Cadastral

Service Office

Same day Paid in

Procedure 1

The seller files an application with the City (District) Cadastral Service for obtaining an

extract out of the State Registry on the property and provides the Bank receipt

confirming payment of registration fee (obtained in Procedure 1).

3

Inspection of the property to determine its actual state and compliance with the

cadastre and prepare the Extract

Cadastral

Service Office

About 3 days Already paid in

Procedure 1

The Service properties inventory staff has to visit the property and attest its current

state and compliance with the cadastre records. In case of major constructive

changes, modifications are identified either in the building construction or land plot

area, and the applicant will have to apply to the Cadastre Service to legalize and

register the changes according to a separate procedure.

In our particular case, the actual state of the property is compliant with the cadastre




Costs

documentation and the Service prepares the Extract and provides it to the Applicant.

The Service records the issuance of the Extract in the registry of issued extracts.

The extract includes the details about the person’s name, type of person (legal or

physical), type of property, address and location, type of right, main technical

parameters of the property and land plot, registered rights and restrictions and the

references to the State Registry records. The extract is effective within 1 month.

4

Payment of state fees and notarization costs at a commercial bank

Commercial

Bank

1 day UZS 924,076 -

2% minimum

wage per

square meter of

surface area of

the property

(notarization of

sale agreement

and state fees).

The cost of notarization is paid to the state budget as only state notaries are operating

in Uzbekistan. Note that the current monthly wage is UZS 49,735, and the surface area

is 557.4 m2 (land) plus 929 m2 (building).

5

Notarization of the sale agreement and foundation documents of seller and buyer

State Notary

1-3 days In addition to

those already

paid in

Procedure 4,

there are 5% of

the minimum

monthly wage

The sale agreement is notarized by a state notary which are the only notaries allowed

to operate in Uzbekistan. To notarize the sale agreement, it is usually required to

produce the original certificate of title registration. There is no legal requirement for

the contract of sale of building and land plot to be prepared by a lawyer. The parties

may prepare the contract themselves or use a model contract of sale. However, under




Costs

the Uzbek legislation all economic contracts with the cost exceeding 200 minimum

monthly wages shall be concluded only after issuance of lawyer's Legal Opinion on the

contract. The legal opinion shall be made either by an in-house lawyer or by an

advocate. The buyer and the seller sign and seal the sale contract. The buyer and the

seller shall sign the acceptance act. There is no standard or specific form established

for the acceptance act. According to the Civil Code, the parties shall sign an

acceptance act or any other document on the transfer of real property from the seller

to the buyer. The companies may use a lawyer to prepare the acceptance act that

might charge between UZS 10,000 and 30,000.

At the same time, the notary will notarize the copies of Foundation documents (in the

case of a limited liability company these would be Charter and Foundation

Agreement) of the seller and the buyer. The originals of the foundation documents

shall be presented to notary. The notary shall make copies out of original documents

and notarize them.

for each page of

the foundation

(4 documents

(total 60 pages)

– UZS 149,205)

6

Buyer pays the registration fee at a commercial bank

Commercial

Bank

1 day UZS 24,867

(50% of the

minimum

monthly wage)

as the state fee

for registration

of a property

into State

Registry

The registration fee (amounting to half of the Minimum Monthly Wage, i.e. = UZS

24,867) shall be paid by the buyer to the account of the Registering Office for

registration of transfer of the property rights in the real estate. The payment shall be

made prior to the application for registration. The buyer will need to provide the

Registering Office with the document confirming payment of the registration fee

(payment receipt).




Costs

7 Buyer applies for registration at the Registration Office

Registration

Office -

Department of

Land Resources

and State

Cadastre - City

of Tashkent

Same day Already paid in

Procedure 6

The buyer shall apply to the District (City) Office of The Cadastre Service (in this case,

it will be the Service of Land-Utilization and Real-Estate Cadastre of the city of

Tashkent) for state registration of the transfer of title. The buyer should produce the

original sale agreement as well as the other documents required.

The documentation shall include:

- Sale agreement

- Bank certificate of payment received by seller under the Sale Agreement

- Extract on the Property (Prepared in Procedure 3)

- Seller’s cadastral package of documents (obtained from Seller after Procedure 5)

including:

a) A certificate of right of the Seller to the building/land plot;

b) The inventory (cadastral) plans of the land and the building.

- Application (in the established form)

- The notarized copies of company establishment documents (in case of Limited

Liability Company this is a Charter and Foundation Agreement) of the seller and the

buyer or other documents providing the persons signing the sale contract with power

to do so on behalf of the seller/buyer (e.g. power of attorney) (obtained in Procedure

5).

- The document establishing right of ownership to the building. This would be most

likely one of the following: Decision of Khokim (the head of local

administration/municipality) on recognition of the ownership right, Order of




Costs

ownership, or sale contract concluded with the BTI (Bureau of Technical Inventory).

This document is not compulsory for submission for the secondary registrations,

however usually this document must be in possession of owner of building.

- Bank receipt confirming payment of registration fee (obtained in Procedure 6)

8

The Cadastre Services Office issues a registration certificate with the name of the

buyer.

Cadastre

Service Office

3 - 10 days (for physical

persons it's up to 10 days

and for legal entities- 3

days).

Already paid

The buyer’s application is reviewed by the Registration Office. The Registrar inspects

the authenticity of the presented documents, including verification through the

database and makes a decision about registration, registers in the cadastral book

(computer), and issues the certificate about title registration to the new owner. The

District (City) Office shall enter the corresponding alterations into the District (City)

land-cadastral Book, the District (City) cadastral Book (of the buildings and

constructions) and the cadastral documents (cadastral file of the building; the

cadastral file of land plot; cadastral plan of the building and the cadastral plan of the

land plot). The Office shall terminate the certificates of registration of the property

issued to the seller, the lease contract (on the land plot) with the previous lessee (the

seller) and provide conclusion of the contract of lease with the new lessee (the buyer).

After the registration, the following documents shall be tendered to the Buyer by the

Registry (cadastral package):

(1) cadastral document (file) of the building (with the new certificate of registration of

right of ownership to the building);

(2) cadastral document (file) of the land plot (with the certificate of registration of the




Costs

right of lease to the land plot);

(3) cadastral plan of the building;

(4) cadastral plan of the land plot;

(5) the lease contract on the land plot between the new lessee (the buyer) and the

Khokimiyat (Local Government) of the city of Tashkent;

(6) the document (original) establishing right of ownership to the building (the one

submitted to the Registry) with alterations made as regards the name of the owner.

Total Estimates of Duration and Costs of the Transaction:

Overall about 10 days for

transfer of the property

and land plot from the

Seller to the Buyer (as in

this particular case

between two legal entities

and clean property history

and cadastre

documentation ready)

UZS 1,198,148

or ~$685 USD



Appendix 6. Schedule of Meetings

Table 5. Schedule of Meetings

Date and Time Place Attendees

Monday,

June 20, 2011,

9 to 10:00

The WB Country Office in

Uzbekistan

Mr. Fazliddin Kh. Rakhimov, Procurement

Specialist

Mr. Emanuel Salinas, Sector Coordinator for

Central Asia

Mr. Arif Nasibov, IFC Coordinator of ACAF

Mr. Michael DeLint, WB Consultant

Mr. David Egiashvili, WB Consultant

Mr. Igor Popiv, WB Consultant

Monday,

June 20, 2011,

10:30 to 13:00

State Committee of the

Republic of Uzbekistan on

Land Resources, Geodesy,

Cartography and State

Cadastre

Mr. Tulqin Mansurovich Abdullaev, First Deputy

Chairman

Mr. A. Samborsky, Deputy Director General of

National Centre of Geodesy and Cartography

Mr. Rasul Khakimbekov, Chief Registrar of c.

Tahskent Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre

Service

Mr. Nazarov, Registrar of the Tashkent oblast


Mr. Marat Saidov (chief of department,

Cadastre of Building), Mr. Shukrat Arsanov, Mr.

Shukrat Bobumaratov, Mr. Khasan Magdiyev –

specialists of the Committee

Mr. Makhmed Jamanjarov, chief registrar,

oblast of Tashkent;


Central Asia







Monday,

June 20, 2011,

14:00 – 18:00

National Centre of Geodesy

and Cartography of State

Committee of the Republic

of Uzbekistan on Land

Resources, Geodesy,


Cadastre



Mr. Khasan Magdiyev, Chief Engineer of




Tuesday,

June 21, 2011,

9:00 – 13:00

The State Committee of the


Architecture and

Construction

Mr. M. Mirzaboyev, Vice Chairman

5 heads of departments (administration of state

supervision, institute of engineering research,

administration of architecture and construction)


Central Asia




Tuesday,

June 21, 2011,

14:00 – 15:30

Chamber of Commerce and

Industry

Mr. A. Shaykhov, Chairman

Mr. N. Sultan-Mukhamedov, Executive Officer


Central Asia







Tuesday,

June 21, 2011,

15:45 – 17:30

The State Property

Committee of the Republic

of Uzbekistan

Mr. B. Nazarov, Deputy Chairman

Mr. U. Vahabov, Head of the Department for

Foreign and Public Relations

Mr. Aziz Nagayev, Head of the Department for

Valuation and Realtor Activities Licensing

Mr. Abudjan Abdulakhatov, Chief of

Department of Auctions



Wednesday,

June 22, 2011,

9:45 – 10:30

Tashkent City Municipality

(Khokimyat)

Mr. F. Ziyaev, Deputy Major City of Tashkent


Wednesday

June 22, 2011,

11:00 – 13:00

Tashkent Land Use and

Real Estate Cadastre

Service (Cadastre and

Registration Service)

Mr. Gayrat Rasulov, Chief of State Enterprise

Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre Service of

city Tashkent


Tashkent Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre

Service

Mr. Timur Salikhov, System Administrator of the

Service


Wednesday,

June 22, 2011,

16:00 – 18:30


Uzbekistan


Central Asia








Thursday,

June 23, 2011,

10:00 – 16:00

Tashkent Oblast Land Use

and Real Estate Cadastre

Service (Cadastre and

Registration Service) and

Zamgiote rayon Service

Mr. Nazarov, Registrar of the Tashkent oblast


Mr. Anvar Kadimov, Chief of Department;

Mr. Shokhimargon Jumanazarov, Chief of

registry office;

Mr. Murogkhagta Ganikhogmaev, Chief

engineer;

Mr. Ratab Kuriazov;



Friday,

June 24, 2011,

10:00 – 11:30

Private surveying company

“BRIGS”

Mr. Sergey Girgoryev, Director



Monday,

June 27, 2011,

10:00 – 11:00

Commercial Bank

“Hypothec Bank”

Mrs. Liliya Khodjaniyazova, Head of the

Hypothecs and Credits Department

Mr. Jakhongir Mirzaev, Head of Investment

project financing and monitoring department;

Mr. Shavkat Ziyaev, Head of department for

lending economic sphere;



Monday, Departments of Mr. A. Samborsky, Deputy Director General of




June 27, 2011,

11:30 – 13:30

Goskomzemgeodezcadastr

e


Mr. D. Aymatov, Head of Department of Land

Use and State Cadastre

Mr. M. Mamaranyanov, Director of GUP

“Geoinformcadastre”

Mr. R. Ilkhomdjanov, Chief engineer of Main

Scientific-Production Institute (GNPI)

«Uzdaverloyikha» (former “Giprozem”)

David Egiashvili, WB Consultant

Igor Popiv, WB Consultant

Monday,

June 27, 2011,

17:00 – 19:00

Real Estate Agency “Lebed

Capital Invest”

Mr. D. Lebed, Director of “Lebed Capital Invest”

Mrs. Valentina D. Dmitriyeva, Director of Real

Estate Company “Farif”

Mr.R. Nadjimov, Director of Real Estate

Company “Pod Klyuch”



Tuesday,

June 28, 2011,

14:00 – 16:30


Uzbekistan

Mr. K. Mirkasymov, Director of Realtors

Working Group

Mr. T. Norov, “Progress-Development” Ltd.

Mr. Batir Gakulov, Director of Real Estate

Company

Mr. Kasimov, Director of Real Estate Company;

Alexsey Ershov, Director of Real Estate Company

“Zolotoi Kluch”;

Maskat Abdusagatov, director of Construction




Company



Wednesday,

June 29, 2011,

9:30 – 12:30

State Committee of the


Land Resources, Geodesy,


Cadastre

Mr. Tulqin M. Abdullaev, First Deputy Chairman

Mr. Bakhriddin B. Isametdinov, Head of the

State Cadastre Department

Mr. Avaz Kh. Alimov, Head of the Land Use and

Land Administration Department



Mr. Khasan N. Magdiev, Chief Engineer of



Tahskent Land Use and Real Estate Cadastre

Service

Mr. Bobmurod Yu. Makhsudov, Head of

Information-Analytical Center of registration

and real estate cadastre system of National

Centre of Geodesy and Cartography

Mr. Nodir Mirzayev, Chief Specialist of

Information-Analytical Center of registration

and real estate cadastre system of National

Centre of Geodesy and Cartography



Thursday,

June 30, 2011,

10:00 – 12:30

Ministry of Economy of the

Republic of Uzbekistan

Mr. Ravshan A. Gulyamov, Minister of Ministry

of Economy

Mr. Shukrat Ya. Ismailov, Head of Main




Department of Macroeconomical Analysis and

Forecasting

Mr. Mirchamid O. Turayev, Head of Department

of Construction Industry and Construction

Complex Development

Mr. Sh. Suyundikov, Executive Head of

Department of Cooperation with International

Financial Institutions

Mr. D. Abduazizov, Deputy Head of Department

on Generalizing of Valuation Indicators and

Preparation of Economic Review

Mr. B. Usmonov, Chief Specialist of Department

of Forecasting and Macroeconomic Parameters

Monitoring

Mr. U. Suvankulov, Lead Specialist of the

Department on Generalizing of Valuation

Indicators and Preparation of Economic Review

Mr. Zafar Khashimov, IFC Country Officer





Thursday,

June 30, 2011,

14:30 – 15:45

Communications and

Information Agency of

Uzbekistan

Mr. Sanjar Alimov, Head of International

Relations Coordinator Department

Mr. Bakhtiyer Adburasulov, Director of Business

Management Center “UzNet” of Stock Company

“Uzbektelecom”

Mr. Olimjon Umarov, Head of GOV.UZ Group

UZINFOCOM






Business cards collected during the meetings are given below:

property registration in uzbekistan · property registration in uzbekistan july 2011 igor popiv...

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