Tajikistan's Housing Code, which underwent thirteen years of discussion. A chronology of its development

In 2009, President Emomali Rahmon, in his address to parliament, proposed preparing a new modern Housing Code. Thirteen years later the draft Law, after discussions, was nonetheless approved by the lower house of parliament, but it still faces discussion in the Majlisi Milli of the Majlisi Oli of the RT and signing by the head of state.

In this material, the Independent Human Rights Protection Center has attempted to trace the history of the preparatory and legislative drafting work on the Housing Code of Tajikistan.

2006

«Attempt No. 1»

In those years, the head of the Consumers’ Union of Tajikistan, Bahodur Habibov, in an interview with the media, said that the housing codes adopted in 1997 and now in force differ almost in no way from the Soviet Housing Code of 1984 and do not meet the requirements of the present time.

«The specialists of the Consumers’ Union of Tajikistan developed a draft of the new Housing Code as far back as 2006, which was submitted to the country’s Parliament for study», - he stated.

But the Consumers’ Union of Tajikistan was never heard…

2009

The president’s address – a guide to action

The President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, in April 2009 in his Address to Parliament drew attention to the need to adopt a new Housing Code; speaking about the important task of the state - protecting human rights and freedoms, ensuring the rule of law and legal order - he pointed to the need to continue the process of improving the legal framework, taking into account the development of society, and stated the expediency of adopting a new Housing Code.

A month later, to solve this task, a working group was formed, which included presidential advisers, representatives of parliament, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the SUE «Housing and Communal Services», employees of local executive authorities, industry specialists, and representatives of civil society.

2010

The prepared draft

By the following year, 2010, the draft Housing Code was ready. For a long time it was considered in the relevant committee of parliament.

Parliamentarians at the time spoke about the work done in the media. For example, in 2010 a member of the working group, deputy of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan (fourth convocation) Galiya Rabieva, in an interview with «AP», recounted that the draft, consisting of 159 articles and 8 sections, includes norms regulating citizens’ right of ownership of residential premises, the housing rights and obligations of citizens, the management of the housing fund, the use of residential premises of the state fund, and the grounds and procedure for providing housing under a social tenancy agreement.

A separate chapter is devoted to the activity of housing-construction cooperatives (HCC), the rental of housing, and payment for it and for communal services.

2011-2015

Under seven seals

In those years the working group was supported by the regional office of the UN Human Rights Office in Central Asia, which insisted on the inclusion of international standards regarding adequate housing, including norms related to property rights and fair compensation.

Officials, in turn, tried less and less to speak publicly about this bill, limiting themselves to a stock phrase: «The draft Housing Code has been sent for coordination to the country’s Government, and after receiving the Government’s opinion, further steps will be taken».

The media at the time reported, citing their sources in the government, that the work of the group developing the draft Housing Code, which included paid international experts, was criticized by some officials in the government; funds were spent on studying foreign experience, the composition of the working group changed, parliamentarians of one convocation were replaced by others, but more years passed, ministries and agencies submitted proposals, and even public hearings were organized, but the draft Housing Code still continued to remain on paper and, incidentally, was never once made public.

2016

Recommendations of public activists

In one of her media interviews, the executive director of the PO «Independent Human Rights Center», Shoira Davlatova, recounted that in May 2016 civil society submitted proposals on the draft of the new Housing Code.

At that time, at a human-dimension meeting held by the OSCE Bureau office in Tajikistan, MN member Mavlyuda Kalandarzoda reported that the country’s relevant parliamentary committees were ready to accept proposals and recommendations from civil society representatives for the discussion and adoption of the HC of the RT in a new edition.

The lawyer of the PO «Independent Human Rights Protection Center», Abdurahmon Sharipov, in that same year, 2016, in a media interview pointed out that the failure to adopt the new Housing Code is, above all, connected with the problem of fulfilling the state’s obligations contained in the draft code, in particular regarding the construction of social housing and the accounting for and compensation of residential premises at market value.

2017 – 2018

But the cart is still right there

Lawyers, in turn, continue to point to the gaps in housing legislation, its imperfection and the need to bring it into line with international standards as soon as possible.

The issue remains open; the population tries to overcome the hardships and conflicts on its own, relying on the morally outdated Housing Code currently in force.

The now late Alimurod Islomzoda, in those years the director general of the SUE «Housing and Communal Services», on July 31, 2018, at a press conference stated to journalists:

«The current Housing Code does not meet the needs of the population, and we continue, along with others, to work on the country’s new HC so that it corresponds to the present-day realities».

The head of the PO «Independent Human Rights Protection Center», Shoira Davlatova, at the time, in a media interview  pointed out that as a result of the implementation of the master plan of the country’s cities and districts, hundreds of families whose houses were demolished, and in whose place parks and other administrative buildings were erected, continue to live in temporary housing and await compensation for the damage caused.

Lawyers at the time pointed to the need for the swift adoption of the Housing Code in a new edition and of a National Housing Strategy, the adoption of measures to prevent homelessness, the resolution of the issue of access to justice for forced evictees, the lack of information about the master plan, the compensation procedure, and the availability of alternative expert assessment in cases where the owner disagrees with the results of the state assessment.

Thus, the draft of the new Housing Code continued to remain on paper, while the reform of the housing-and-utilities system in Tajikistan proved unsuccessful.

2019

A new group by decree

In April 2019, by decree of the President of the RT No. 1211 of April 30, a working group was formed to develop the draft Housing Code under the office of the President of the RT, which included staff of the office of the President of the RT, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the SUE «Housing and Communal Services», employees of other state bodies and industry specialists, and from the civil community - lawyers of the PO «Independent Human Rights Protection Center».

2020

Studying the experience of neighbors

By the public organization «Independent Human Rights Protection Center», within the framework of the project «Assistance in the realization of the right to adequate housing in Tajikistan» and the project «Strengthening the capacity of the Central Asian Network on the right to adequate housing», for the members of the working group developing the draft Housing Code of the RT, seminars were organized to familiarize them with the experience of ensuring housing rights in neighboring states of the region: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, as well as trips and discussions to study European experience using the example of the Law «On Social Housing» of the Republic of Albania.

2021

Parliamentary hearings

The draft Housing Code, prepared in practically the same one-and-a-half-year period as 13 years ago, was sent in the second half of 2021 to the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan (the lower house of parliament). According to reports from the Parliament’s press service, the first discussions at meetings of the parliamentary council took place as early as May 2021.

2022

The lower house’s «go-ahead»

In early January 2022, the deputies of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the RT, at a parliamentary session of the third session of the sixth convocation, approved the draft Housing Code of the Republic of Tajikistan.

As the Parliament’s press service reports, the draft Housing Code of the RT consists of 8 sections, 18 chapters and 141 articles and regulates the right to housing, housing legal relations, issues of housing funds, the competence of state bodies in the sphere of housing construction, the management of housing funds, payment for communal services and other relations in the sphere of housing law.

Section I «General Provisions» contains 3 chapters and 17 articles, section II «The Right of Ownership of Housing» - 3 chapters and 11 articles, section III «Management of the Housing Fund» - 4 chapters and 16 articles, section IV «Housing of the State Housing Fund» - 4 chapters and 60 articles, section V «The Housing Cooperative» - 1 chapter and 9 articles, section VI «The Rental of Housing» - 1 chapter and 16 articles, section VII «Payments and Benefits in the Housing Sphere» - 1 chapter and 7 articles, section VIII «Final Provisions» - 1 chapter and 4 articles.

It should be noted that Article 4 of the draft Housing Code of the RT is devoted to the basic concepts, which include «residential premises», «residential building», «residential house», «multi-apartment building», «apartment», «room», «housing fund», «total area of an apartment», «technical passport of a residential building», «common property of a multi-apartment building», «social tenancy», «adjoining house territory», «managing organization», «homeowners’ association» and «housing cooperative».

Before coming into force, the Housing Code still faces adoption by the upper house of the country’s Parliament and signing by the President of Tajikistan… 

Source: ASIA-plus