Individual Corruption

Corruption in the Azerbaijani land administration is not uncommon. According to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2010, a considerable amount of Azerbaijani households point to the interaction with land authorities as an area where bribes are often demanded. Moreover, households perceive land matters to be distorted by grand and political corruption, according to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2009.

Business Corruption

According to the US Department of State 2011, current land regulations in Azerbaijan can easily create additional opportunities for the abuse of property rights, since they allow the authorities to forcibly purchase property. While the Azerbaijani government has been working with the World Bank to improve the property registration system, the system remains overloaded with bureaucratic requirements and is generally seen as corrupt and inefficient.

In a similar vein, Global Integrity 2008 reports that up to 40% of transactions in relation to real estate ownership certificates occur via 'unofficial payments'.

Political Corruption

According to Global Integrity 2009, land administration in Azerbaijan is tainted by a lack of transparency and grand corruption. Thus, it is not uncommon for the administering authorities, such as the State Committee for Land (SCL), to violate laws regulating land sale and conduct illegal sales. Moreover, there are also reports of widespread bribery during land sale auctions. According to the report, this shows that the new procedural reform of 2009, which abolished direct sales of municipal lands and introduced the auctions, has not been overly effective and has not resulted in more transparency.

Nevertheless, some high-ranking officials have been arrested in recent years for being involved in illegal land sales, according to Global Integrity 2009. For example, in 2009, both the chairman of Xocasan village municipality and the chairman of Baku's Sabail District Municipality were arrested on charges relating to illegal land sales.

According to the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010, property rights in Azerbaijan are occasionally violated as a result of political interests or large oligarchic interests and competition between members of the political elite.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- 4 procedures taking an average of 11 days (nearly three times less than the OECD average) and a cost of 0.2% of the property value are required to register property in Azerbaijan.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business leaders give protection of property rights a score of 3.8 on a 7-point scale (1 'very weak' and 7 'very strong').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 23.4% of the households surveyed reported to have paid a bribe to land services in 2009.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2009:
- 40% of households consider grand or political corruption in land matters to be a 'very serious problem'.

- 43% of respondents consider bribes to land authorities to obtain favourable decisions a 'very serious problem' in Azerbaijan.

Global Integrity: Azerbaijan Country Report 2008:
- A property certificate from the State Real Estate Register Agency can be purchased for a USD 123 bribe.

- The standard bribe for permission to build a one-entrance, multi-story apartment building in Baku is USD 150,000.