There are hundreds of thousands of buildings in Azerbaijan that lack official documentation or face legal hurdles for registration, according to official reports. The scale of the issue necessitates an acceleration of the real estate inventory process and the formalization of property rights across the country.
The Operative Information Center-OMM reports that this information was disclosed by Nigar Alimova, Chairperson of the Board of the State Cadastre and Register of Real Estate, during a presentation on the work carried out in the field of state real estate cadastre and registry in 2025. Alimova emphasized that a large-scale inventory is essential to determine the exact number of undocumented structures in Azerbaijan.
According to Alimova, current estimates based on existing applications suggest there are approximately 400,000 to 500,000 undocumented or non-registrable buildings. However, a comparative analysis of applications for non-residential structures indicates that the actual number of undocumented individual residential houses could be at least ten times higher than this figure. This discrepancy highlights the significant volume of informal housing that has developed over recent decades.
Despite these challenges, significant progress has been made under the decrees of President Ilham Aliyev regarding the regulation of land relations. To date, 60,928 families have been provided with electronic extracts (property titles) at the state's expense. Additionally, 413,423 citizens have obtained electronic extracts based on state acts, formalizing their ownership rights. Regarding non-residential properties, land management plans for 23,587 buildings have been prepared, and ownership rights for 4,602 non-residential buildings have been fully registered.
The issue of undocumented housing in Azerbaijan is a legacy of rapid urban growth and internal migration, particularly in the suburban areas of Baku and other major cities. The government of Azerbaijan has been working systematically to integrate these properties into the formal economy, which not only secures citizens' property rights but also expands the tax base and improves urban planning. The transition to electronic extracts is part of a broader digital transformation strategy aimed at increasing transparency and reducing bureaucracy in the real estate sector.
