ArmInfo.At a meeting on Thursday, the Armenian government approved the draft laws "On Amendments and Additions to the Civil Code of Armenia" and a number of related laws, according to which, the legalization of unauthorized buildings will be stopped. "The process of illegal construction has not been sufficiently regulated for years, as a result of which the town-planning picture was distorted in many cities and problems with security arose," said Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan.
According to the head of the Ministry of Justice, the purpose of the bill is to plan more effective legal mechanisms in the fight against unauthorized buildings. "Now, with this initiative, a line will be drawn, after which unauthorized buildings will no longer be legalized. The government, of course, does not intend to completely demolish the already built unauthorized buildings, so that citizens and legal entities suffer large losses," he said, adding that a clear mechanism will be introduced through which unauthorized buildings built before the adoption of the law will be legalized.
According to this mechanism, citizens who have built unauthorized buildings between January 1, 2021 and before the law comes into force will be given a two-month deadline for delivery to the Cadastre Committee, submission of the relevant documents. The legalization of unauthorized buildings within the administrative boundaries of Yerevan can be carried out until January 1, 2023, in communities where there are urban settlements - until January 1, 2024, and in places where there are only rural settlements - until January 1, 2025.
According to him, from now on, more severe punishments and sanctions will be provided for those community leaders who do not implement the requirements of the inspection bodies to stop illegal construction, do not dismantle and release state and communal lands from such "seizures." The law will enter into force 10 days after its adoption.
Head of the cadastre committee Suren Tovmasyan, in turn, said that the department headed by him has completed all the "field" work on aerial photography of the settlements of Armenia and all unauthorized buildings built before 2021 are visible in the photographs. At the moment, the received data is being processed. The final aerial photographs will be ready in a month or two. "In 2021, the entire territory of the republic was removed. All unauthorized buildings built before January 1, 2021 are on the orthophoto, and the buildings built in 2021 should be put on a special account, by which we will stop the existence of unauthorized buildings in Armenia and its inventory," he stated.
