In recent years, especially around Baku and the Absheron Peninsula, the number of individual residential houses known as "broker houses" is increasing. The compliance of these houses, offered at relatively low prices on the market, with current standards in terms of both construction and documentation raises serious questions.
What are the most common construction defects in "broker houses"? How suitable are such houses for long-term use? What document problems do buyers of such houses most frequently encounter? What aspects should a buyer pay special attention to during a house inspection?
Speaking to Medianews.az on the subject, real estate expert Elnur Farzaliyev stated that currently there are nearly 500 thousand individual residential houses without title documents across the country, especially in Baku and the Absheron region: "A portion of these houses are constructed by brokers, i.e., individuals involved in selling houses. The vast majority of these houses do not have official documents. According to construction legislation, the construction of any individual residential house must have a land plot title deed. The designation of the land in the title deed must be shown as ‘settlement lands.’ According to the law, only 40 percent of the land plot is allowed for construction. However, when looking at houses built and offered for sale, we see that they are mostly constructed extremely close to each other. Such dense construction conditions can cause fire to spread quickly to other houses during a fire. At the same time, in the event of an earthquake, the collapse of one house could trigger a chain reaction causing the collapse of other houses as well.”
The expert noted that around Baku, especially in the Absheron area, there were previously many swampy and reed-covered areas: “These areas were later drained and individual residential houses were built on them. Houses constructed on drained land plots experience subsidence, cracking, and structural problems over time. In this regard, the quality of construction materials used in houses offered at low prices should definitely be taken into account by the buyer. Because in property valuation, the value of the land plot and construction costs are considered primary. If, despite these indicators, a house is offered at a price considerably lower than the market price, it is highly likely that there is a defect either in the land plot or in the construction itself.”
E. Farzaliyev emphasized that citizens often turn to cheap houses out of necessity: “Because the prices of multi-storey apartment buildings have sharply increased. For this reason, especially low-income families, because these houses suit their budgets, although they are of low quality and densely built, are forced to buy this kind of house. As a result, despite certain risks, they partially resolve their housing problems.”
Nailə Qasımova,
Medianews.az
