Expropriation – Syria Report

Posts

Aleppo to Provide Temporary Shelters for Residents of Building at Risk of Collapse

17-01-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

Two temporary housing buildings have been completed in Aleppo’s Masaken Hanano district and will house residents of homes at risk of collapse, the governor of Aleppo told the state-owned Tishreen newspaper in early January.

The units are part of a project–slated for completion by the end of 2023–that the Aleppo City Council launched in 2020 to construct 10 residences containing 224 apartments in Masaken Hanano, in Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods, a source on the council told The Syria Report. The council owns the units.

However, the units were not fully allocated for residents whose homes are at risk, unlike what the governor said. According to the city council source, the council will not distribute them as alternative housing but rather as temporary shelters for emergency or urgent cases. For example, people facing sudden eviction from their homes due to imminent collapse will be allowed to stay in the Masaken Hanano housing units for a renewable six-month period, during which time they must search for other housing.

Unconfirmed rumours suggest that the 10 housing units project was built on the site of buildings that were destroyed by regime airstrikes during the period of opposition control over east Aleppo in 2012-2016. Thos destroyed buildings are said to have been owned by residents who were forcibly displaced from the area.

The city council plans to use the units to house some residents of the informal Al-Haydariyeh neighbourhood, which is now the site of a real estate development zone, the council source said. These residents will only be allowed to live in the units temporarily, until the housing units allocated to them are completed–which in turn will not be free of charge, as residents have to buy it.

Under Real Estate Development and Investment Law No. 15 of 2008, a real estate development zone may handle informal settlements, no matter the size of the latter. An administrative body subjecting an area to Law No. 15 may expropriate privately owned real estate located within that area in accordance with the Expropriation Law. In cases like this, the administrative body must allocate a portion of the residential plots it builds to sell to the owners of the real estate expropriated from that zone.

According to the website of the General Commission for Real Estate Development and Investment, the Aleppo City Council established the real estate development zone in Al-Haydariyeh in 2010. The 118-hectare zone was meant to “upgrade” the area, which contained unlicensed constructed buildings. The area is fully expropriated by the state, and all the real estate within it are included in the general zoning plan for Aleppo city, which was approved in 2004.

Beyond the housing project in Masaken Hanano, the city council has a number of other units in the neighbourhood, as well as in Al-Sukkari and Al-Mashhad neighbourhoods that can be used as temporary shelters. Such buildings are owned by people who were forcibly displaced to opposition-held areas. They were partially damaged, though the city council rehabilitated a number of them in 2021-2022 and they now house families who were evacuated from at-risk homes in Al-Saliheen, Al-Fardous, Al-Maadi, Al-Maysar, Qadhi Askar and other neighbourhoods.

In December 2022, the city council began demolishing some severely damaged and uninhabitable buildings in various parts of east Aleppo. The head of the city council said on November 9, 2022 that evacuations had begun for some 1,500 buildings at risk of collapse so that they could be demolished. He added that an action plan was needed to evacuate and find alternative housing for those residents, as a sizable portion of those buildings are still inhabited.

For those forced to vacate their damaged, at-risk homes, temporary housing is not easy to come by. The city council requires that applicants meet a complex set of conditions before being granted such housing. One person who was evacuated from their home in Al-Saliheen neighbourhood told The Syria Report that the city council refused to grant them the temporary housing usually given to people in his situation because “he owns a car.” The justification wasn’t clear but it could be that the council considers a car-owner as being relatively well-off and hence not needing support. Other people said that wasta, or personal connections, were needed to obtain such housing, or payment of bribes to city council officials.

AANES and Compensation for Those Impacted by Expropriation

25-10-2022/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

When the various institutions belonging to the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) expropriate privately owned lands for the public benefit, they compensate the original owners, albeit only if the latter demand such payments. The lack of laws about expropriation and bodies to regulate the process contribute to this phenomenon. The same issue applies to damages wrought on real estate and land due to the conflict and the security activities of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

First, land or real estate owners must submit a complaint to one of the agricultural real estate sub-committees in Northeast Syria, a region known as the Jazira. These sub-committees operate beneath the General Agricultural Real Estate Committee, affiliated with the AANES’ agriculture ministry, the Agriculture Authority. The judges who serve on these committees are appointed by the Justice Authority, the AANES’ justice ministry, and settle disputes related to agricultural lands and other real estate located outside the zoning plans of the area’s cities. They study the complaints and issue decisions to provide or withhold compensation. Complainants may also file lawsuits before the People’s Courts affiliated with the AANES. These courts, in turn, issue decisions on compensation that municipalities must follow.

Expropriations for military use

In 2016, during the expansion of the Tal Baydar military base in the city of Tal Tamar, in the rural Hassakeh governorate, the Tal Tamar municipality expropriated some privately owned lands. The base consists of an airport, training facilities and warehouses. Both US forces and the SDF are stationed there. The owners of the expropriated lands submitted complaints and compensation requests to the Tal Tamar agricultural committee, which issued a decision to compensate them. Because AANES has no expropriation law, the payment was made similarly to an unlimited lease, with an annual value equivalent to the fertile agricultural seasons. At the same time, the landowners do not possess any actual lease contracts or expropriation decisions for their lands.

A similar case occurred during work in 2014-2015 to expand the Salman Bek Agricultural Airport, which is located in the city of Amouda in rural Hassakeh and is currently occupied by the SDF for military purposes. The Amouda municipality expropriated civilian-owned properties surrounding the airport and compensated them, in line with decisions from the General Agricultural Real Estate Committee, with annual “lease” payments.

Military and security damage to real estate

Privately owned real estate properties have been damaged due to war and security activities by the SDF in many border areas of the Hassakeh governorate.

Some farmers submitted compensation requests for damages during the 2019-2020 agricultural season due to the SDF digging trenches and tunnels beneath their fields. But the General Agricultural Real Estate Committee rejected the farmers’ requests, claiming that the SDF would fill the trenches and tunnels, thereby making the damages temporary. The farmers later filled in the tunnels at their own expense after the SDF abandoned any efforts to do so.

Digging such tunnels has harmed the foundations of homes in the villages along the Syrian border with Turkey and in the neighbourhoods of Al-Hilaliyeh and Al-Gharbiyeh in the northern part of Qamishli. Cracks appeared on the walls, raising fears amongst residents. Local administrative units, known as “communes,” rejected requests for compensation.

Past expropriations

Municipalities within the AANES have rejected compensation requests for expropriations that occurred before 2014 on the pretext that they are not liable for such seizures, which Damascus carried out. However, the Syrian government’s municipal authorities are still active in some AANES areas, though they have minimal duties and budgets. For the most part, they certify certain documents that have previously been issued.

Some real estate owners whose properties in Amouda were expropriated in 2002 filed a lawsuit in 2019 before the AANES court after the municipality had refused to provide them compensation. In turn, the court rejected their request because the expropriation occurred when the regime was in control. Thus, the court found that the Syrian regime should have provided compensation at the time.

Explained: Seizure and Expropriation in Syria’s Public Assets Collection Law

18-10-2022/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

Syria’s Public Assets Collection Law allows the General Commission for Taxes and Fees, part of the Ministry of Finance, to transfer private real estate to state ownership if the original owners fail to pay the necessary taxes and fees. The law was promulgated by Legislative Decree No. 341 of 1956 and its amendments.

Decree No. 341 sets the general terms for the categories of taxes that authorise the state’s seizure of taxpayers’ properties. It includes various types of taxes and direct and indirect fees, as well as additions and fines to those fees. In other words, the payments listed in the decree include all taxes and fees payable to state administrations and institutions under the applicable laws and regulations. Generally, the Public Assets Collection Law applies to income taxes, real estate sales tax, and others.

Decree No. 341 also outlines the methods for paying taxes and fees and the procedures against those who fail to pay. The process begins with a warning, then property seizure, and, finally, the sale of the seized property. The taxpayer must cover all the costs associated with the sale procedure.

Under Decree No. 341 and its amendments, the judicial authorities do not have the right to halt the implementation of these procedures. Meanwhile, the right to carry out these procedures is granted only to Syria’s financial authorities, which violates the principle of judicial independence. The seizure begins with a warning sent by the relevant Financial Department to taxpayers who have failed to pay their taxes and fees. Then, there is another warning. After ten days, the Financial Department director issues a decision to seize the taxpayer’s assets.

There are two cases in which Decree No. 341 grants financial authorities the right to make asset seizures without issuing a warning to the owners. First, if the failed taxpayer no longer lives in Syria permanently, and second, if there are legitimate reasons to expect that the failed taxpayer may be hiding their assets. These two provisions give financial departments far-reaching powers to seize assets belonging to Syrians abroad on the pretext that they are no longer permanently based in the country.

The government may also enforce a property seizure against a failed taxpayer’s movable and immovable assets and their proceeds, whether those assets are in the taxpayer’s possession or a third party. Such individuals may be tenants of the property. In these cases, seizure leads to the tenants losing their rights to benefit from the property without a valid reason.

Afterwards, the Minister of Finance issues a regulatory decision that includes the sale of the seized property. When a sale cannot be processed, the General Commission for Taxes and Fees may amend the property’s records within the Land Registry to be listed under the state’s name.

During the issuance of the Minister of Finance’s decision to register the property under the state’s name, the owner may pay a sum equal to the financial dues and any expenses. Payment of this sum then cancels the registration of the property under the state’s name, and the original owner may then retain their property.

But in cases where the owner fails to make the payment and after ownership of the property is formally transferred to the state, the state must wait at least three years until it can sell it. During these three years, the original owner or the inheritor of the property may request that it be recovered to them, provided that they pay all financial dues, expenses, fees, and fines incurred during the time the property was registered in the state’s name.

Government Issues Decision to Expropriate Properties in Rural Damascus

11-10-2022/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

On August 28, the Damascus governorate’s General Establishment for Drinking Water and Sewage sent a letter to the mukhtar of a town in Rural Damascus stating that the government will expropriate property falling within two real estate zones per Article 9 of Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983.

In its letter (Letter No. 10099), the water establishment referenced a previous letter issued by the Ministry of Financial Resources (Letter No. 5436 of August 16, 2022) and Expropriation Decision No. 1298 of August 10, 2022, which stipulated the expropriation of properties and parts of properties from the Ayn Al-Fijeh and Deir Muqarren real estate zones.

The expropriation decision, issued by the Council of Ministers, included hundreds of properties that would be expropriated in order to implement a project around the Ayn Al-Fijeh Spring. The decision affirmed that there were Expropriation Plans for the project, and that the plans were being arranged by the Prime Ministry, the Ministry of Financial Resources, and the Damascus governorate’s General Water Establishment.

On September 12, the governor of Damascus met with the mayor and city council members of Ayn Al-Fijeh to discuss the matter. Afterwards, the mayor published pictures of the expropriation decision and the water establishment’s letter on his personal Facebook page.

Notably, none of these communications mentions Law No. 1 of 2018, which established two protected zones around the Ayn Al-Fijeh Spring: the direct and indirect zones. The direct zone surrounds the spring and is meant to provide maintenance and safety preservation to prevent pollution, while the indirect zone includes land surrounding the spring and the direct zone.

Article 3 of Law No. 1 permits the expropriation of properties or parts of properties located within the direct zone, according to expropriation plans attached to the Law, and orders property compensation that accounts for the real values of properties.

Article 4 stipulates the creation of the two protected zones mentioned above and two pipelines for transporting water from the Ayn Al-Fijeh Spring to Damascus. The direct zone around the two pipelines is set at 10 metres side, while the width for the indirect zone is set at 20 metres.

The Law did not explicitly stipulate the expropriation of lands for both protected zones around the two water pipelines. It also prohibits certain work from being performed within the direct zones around the spring and the pipelines. This work included digging wells, transporting rocks, dirt or sand outside the zone, building facilities, using fertilisers and pesticides, paving or extending roads, and performing agricultural or manufacturing work.

The Law also stipulates an amendment of Ayn Al-Fijeh’s and Deir Muqarren’s zoning plans to remove any residential areas within the direct zone. However, it permits people in villages within the spring’s indirect zone to renovate existing houses rather than build new ones. Any residential facilities built within the indirect zone before the issuance of the Law may remain in place if they meet certain conditions. Many of Ayn Al-Fijeh’s older historic homes are located within the direct zones surrounding the spring and the pipelines.

The expropriation decision, published in the Official Gazette Issue No. 31 on August 24, 2022, includes several hundred completed properties and portions of 18 other properties. Most of the properties are in Ayn Al-Fijeh, with a smaller number in Deir Muqarren. All of the 18 partially expropriated lands are in Ayn Al-Fijeh. The expropriation plans for the protected direct zone around the spring have not yet been published, but the expropriation of land suggests that the plans include most of Ayn Al-Fijah and some parts of Deir Muqarren.

Regime forces have not yet allowed forcibly displaced people to return to their homes in Ayn Al-Fijeh. Residents fled the town during the regime’s military offensive on opposition factions in the broader Wadi Barada area in 2017. In 2020, the regime did authorise some residents to come check on their homes for the first time since the conflict. These residents were chosen based on lists approved by the national security services.

In a radio interview this past March, the Ayn Al-Fijeh mayor said displaced residents who seek to return to the town face two problems. The first is that the alternative housing project programme has yet to begin for owners whose homes were expropriated in Ayn Al-Fijeh and Wadi Barada. Second, public services have not yet been restored to the town. The mayor added that the municipality removed all “encroachments” from the spring’s direct zone but did not clarify what he meant by “encroachments.” However, aerial photographs suggest that much of the town has been razed.

In August 2020, the Rural Damascus governorate contracted General Company for Engineering Studies (GCES), affiliated with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, to prepare detailed and executive zoning plans for a Wadi Barada residential suburb east of Ayn Al-Fijeh. The suburb would serve as alternative housing for owners of properties that were confiscated under Law No. 1 of 2018 and those whose homes were destroyed by wartime fighting in the area.

Explained: Expropriation Plans

11-10-2022/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

An expropriation plan is a document issued by an official authority that has made an expropriation decision. It contains the properties and portions of properties that will be expropriated per Article 7 of Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983.

The document also includes a map of the real estate that has been acquired and any surrounding properties based on the boundary lines of the properties recorded in the Land Registry if the properties have undergone the delimitation and census process within an area’s zoning plan.

Expropriation Law No. 20 permits the cadastral affairs directorates to undertake delimitation and census procedures for expropriated real estate if the properties are located outside a zoning plan. The expropriating entity must inform the relevant cadastral affairs directorate of its decision to delimit and census the land and send along a copy of that decision with the plans. Under the law, if cadastral affairs directorates are aware of an expropriation decision, they are prohibited from approving the separation or merging of property or granting construction approval.

In addition, the law requires the expropriating entity to publish its expropriation decision in the Official Gazette and a local newspaper, including the real estate numbers and where the real estate owners may find a copy of the plans for their expropriated properties.

The plans must show all facilities, trees, and other material rights within the map of the confiscated lands. Under Administrative Judiciary Decision No. 84/2 of 1997, contradictions between the expropriation plans and the reality on the ground are considered a serious legal problem that results in the cancellation of the expropriation decision. At the same time, the administrative judiciary has decreed that it has no jurisdiction over expropriation decisions except in cases where such decisions have serious problems.

In addition, an expropriation plan must come with a document known as an expropriation chart, which includes the real estate numbers, facilities, total surface area, expropriated surface area, and the estimated value of the properties. Expropriating entities must include these documents in their plans if a final expropriation decision is to be issued.

Issued in 1983, the Expropriation Law allowed public entities, such as ministries and local administrations, to expropriate real estate for “public benefit,” such as paving, straightening or widening roads; building public squares, playgrounds, and parks; and constructing waterways, military barracks, oil and gas facilities, and tourism sites.

Establishing a Reserve Around the Fijeh Springs

18-07-2022/in HLP, Regulations /by Jihad YAZIGI

This text, enacted at the beginning of 2018, establishes a protected area around the Fijeh Springs, which involves the expropriation of real estate within the immediate surrounding of the water canals that transport water from the springs to Damascus.

Law No. 1 of 2018
Establishment of a Reserve Around Fijeh Springs

The President of the Republic
In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution
Promulgates the following:

Article 1
The following words and phrases have the following meanings:

The Minister:The Minister of Water Resources

The Establishment: The Public Establishment for Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Governorate of Damascus.

General Director: The General Director of the Public Establishment for Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Governorate of Damascus.

Direct Reserve:The land that surrounds the water source, allowing access to it for the purposes of the water source’s maintenance, its preservation, and preventing it from being polluted.

Indirect Reserve: The lands surrounding the water source’s Direct Reserve, within which it is forbidden to engage in particular activities, so as to prevent the water source’s pollution and depletion.

Article 2

Two reserves are to be established around the Fijeh Springs:
The Direct Reserve
The Indirect Reserve
The dimensions of the two reserves noted above are to be specified via the topographical plan (1/1,000,000 scale) and plan (1/5,000 scale) attached to this law. A copy of each plan is to be held by the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Local Administration and the Environment, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, the Governorate of Damascus, the Governorate of Rural Damascus, and the Establishment.
Fixed signs are to demarcate the boundaries of the Direct and Indirect Reserves on the ground.

Article 3
The appropriation of real estate, and portions of real estate, falling within the Direct Reserve is subject to the plans attached to the law, and to compensation equivalent to the actual value of the property.

Article 4

Two reserves are to be established along the two aqueducts that carry water from Fijeh Springs to Damascus:
The Direct Reserve
The Indirect Reserve
The Direct Reserve for the two aqueducts is to be 10 meters wide on each side of the tunnel, calculated from the centre of the tunnel, per the attached plan that is to be prepared by the Public Company for Technical Studies and Investments.
The Indirect Reserve for the two aqueduct tunnels is to be 20 meters on each side of the tunnel, calculated from the centre of the tunnel and including the Direct Reserve.

Article 5

It is absolutely forbidden to engage in any of the following activities in the Direct Reserve of Fijeh Springs, or the two aqueducts from Fijeh Springs to Damascus:
Digging wells of any depth.
Filling holes of any size.
Creating quarries, dirt beds, or sand pits, or creating any hole for any reason.
Carrying stones, dirt, or sand outside of the reserve for any reason.
Building any industrial, commercial, agricultural, residential, or tourist facilities, including fuel stations, fuel tanks, or garages; using fertilizers or herbicides; or building housing of any type whether the facilities or buildings are made of cement, stone, wood, metal, or any other material.
Establishing or extending roads of any grade.
Erecting any installations or tanks for any purpose.
Undertaking any agricultural, industrial, commercial, touristic, or construction work.
The work of the Establishment in pursuit of the goals specified in its discharge instrument are excepted from the provisions of paragraph 1.

Article 6

The licensing of any official body for any of the works described in paragraph 1 of Article 5 is considered absolutely void, does not establish any right, and is not entitled to any compensation.
The organisational plans of the municipalities of Al-Fijeh and Dayr Muqaran are to be amended to eliminate the residential zones located within the Direct Reserve.

Article 7

All of the works forbidden in the Direct Reserve noted in Article 5 above are also forbidden in the Indirect Reserve for Fijeh Springs and the two aqueducts from the Fijeh Springs to Damascus. The current situation is to be documented upon the promulgation of this law through aerial photographs taken by an official body of the Syrian Arab Republic and verified by the Public Directorate for Real Estate Interests. The photos are to be held by the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Local Administration and the Environment, the Governorate of Damascus, the Governorate of Rural Damascus, and the Establishment.
The villages located in the Indirect Reserve of Fijeh Springs and the two aqueducts from Fijeh springs to Damascus are allowed to engage in the following works within their current boundaries:
Practice rain-fed agriculture alone, without the use of herbicides or fertilizers that accumulate.
Raise livestock through pasturage alone.
Restore only standing residences.
Implement the organisational plan for the municipalities of Dayr Muqaran and Al-Fijeh following its amendment per the requirements of the reserve mentioned in Article 5 of this law, such that it makes allowance for alternative facilities in an area of the organisational plan located outside of the boundaries of the Direct and Indirect Reserves.
Residential facilities that were permitted before the promulgation of this law in the Indirect Reserve can remain in place so long as they are furnished with a mixed “pipe within pipe” sanitation network and fuel tanks with mixed walls, at the expense of those with a relationship to the property. In the case that the owners of these facilities do not respond within six months from the date on which they are informed of the requested procedures, the Establishment is to direct the Governorate of Rural Damascus to tear down such facilities at their owners’ expense.

Article 8
The Establishment is the public agency that holds authority over the Fijeh Springs reserve and the two aqueducts that extend from the springs. It has the authority to administer and represent them.

Article 9

Anyone who violates the provisions of Article 5 of this law is to be punished with between one and three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Syrian pounds.
Anyone who violates the provisions of Article 7 of this law is to be punished with between one and three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Syrian pounds.

Article 10

The Minister is to promulgate a decision in which he will name the employees charged with the investigation and prevention of the violations enumerated in Articles 5 and 7 of this law. They will have law enforcement status. Before they begin their work, it is incumbent upon them to legally swear before the judge of the Civilian Court of First Instance in the Governorate of Damascus.
It is incumbent upon the employees with law enforcement status, upon the organisation of the guard, to prevent infringements, and to seize the means and instruments by which infringements are committed, per the relevant systems.
Without obviating the strongest stipulated punishments in the other laws, law enforcement employees who facilitate, cover up, or neglect to prevent violations are to be punished by those punishments stipulated in Article 9 of this law. The same applies to employees of all state public bodies who issue orders or instructions without a legal basis that lead to damage of the Fijeh Springs water system.

Article 11
It is incumbent upon the directors and presidents of the police departments, the directors of the districts, and the captains of Interior Ministry police stations to provide support to law enforcement in preventing violations.

Article 12
The Establishment is to remove construction violations at the violating party’s expense per the provisions of Articles 9 and 10 of this law.

Article 13
The Minister is to promulgate executive instructions for the implementation of this law.

Article 14
Action per Law 10/1989 is to be cancelled.

Article 15
This law is to be published in the Official Gazette.

Damascus, 01/05/1439 Hijri., 18/01/2018 Gregorian

President of the Republic
Bashar Al-Assad