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Summary of the study CORRUPTION WITH THE POPERTY: BARRIER FOR A STABLE DEVELOPMENT 60% of citizen complaints in the TIA-CAO are on property issues. Beside the "improvements”, the legislation has increased the confusion The documentation distributed in many institutions, is very difficult for access by other interested people. The Property Registration Office has not finished the final registration. The analysis of property corruption, the elements that have favored this, the evidencing of the problems according to the main central institutions, the outcomes, and the recommendations from this situation, were part of discussions held by TI-Albania-CAO, with responsible actors and groups of interest. Beside all the frequent improvements in the legislation, not only it has not improved the situation, but it has added more to the confusion. Incomplete with secondary legislation, this document has left possibilities for misinterpretations and abuse. The documentations on property is distributed in some institutions, thus the access by interested people is very difficult. The Property Registration Office has not yet ended the initial registration, which has led to problems when registering in the system these properties. COIPR (CENTRAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) and LOIPR (LOCAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) have been and are involved in some projects with foreign donors such as World Bank, in order to finish the initial registration in all the country. But the manner of management and the interweaving of many interests with the aim of personal profit, become often obstacles in finalizing this project. For as long as, the properties are not filed in a system and the institutions work provisory certificates and landscape maps, there is much space for manipulating property documents. The legislation elaborated for the clearance of registration files of dual-ownership, is implemented with great lack of transparency, thus increasing the conflict level. In many cases, the initial property registered were not deleted and other cases were over-filled on top of the initial ones, therefore, artificially increasing the number of cases to be treated by the courts and by prolonging the finalizing of the filing process of all properties. * The property conflicts often created near the LOIPR (LOCAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) LOIPR (Local Office for Immovable Property Registration) in every county offices are noticed to create problems especially in the cases of legal transactions and in the cases of alternating property for development and construction. There are other cases where property conflicts are noticeable in the registration of the construction instance after the development of the property, thus blocking the registration near the LOIPR (LOCAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) offices and by creating a chain of conflicts. *The COIPR (Central Office for Immovable Property Registration) and LOIPR (LOCAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) administration does not take responsibility for administrative resolution of the conflicts, although the legislation provisions this responsibility. This phenomenon is noticed almost in all the segments of the administration. * By directing all conflicts for court resolution, it is created a prolonged artificial registration system that does not allow the achievement of this process. * The institutional collaboration is lacking between institutions that produce or use property documents in the central and local level. There is duality of responsibilities in two or more institutions, such as the case of the new law on the “Legalization of the Informal Constructions” which appoints NPA (THE NATIONAL PRIVATIZATION AGENCY AND ITS BRANCHES AT COUNTIES) for the preparation of compensation lists, the exclusive functioning of the AITPP (The Agency for the Inventory and Transfer of Public Property), or with the preparation of the file for property registration (exclusive function of the ZRPP). * Great problems noticed on the properties of agricultural land, pasture land, and especially agricultural land within touristic areas. - Law Nr. 9948 dated 7/07/2008 “For the verification of the legal validity creating property titles on the agricultural land”, will create many problems especially connected to the legal transactions and in the implementation of the development plans for these areas. On the other hand, during the implementation of this law will create uncertainty in the land property market, will prohibit serious investments, will encourage informal land market, and all the possible transactions will be stalled for at least three years.
- The conflicts created by the AITPP (The Agency for the Inventory and Transfer of Public Property) during the privatization process of state property (objects), has passed for treatment to the courts where the court procedures are prolonged and in most cases the decision are taken in disfavor of the rightful land owner.
- After 2007, the construction control structures have passed from the Construction Police Department in the local level, to the Construction Inspectorate in the local level. This has not improved the territory control, but this functioning is almost nonexistent, or in a vindictive instrument on the hands of some mayors in different municipalities.
- Form the experience of TI-Albania, results that even though there were noticed many cases of legal violations no actions were taken against the perpetrators.
- The transparency and citizen participation during the planning and decision-making processes are not satisfying.
ELEMENTS THAT HAVE FAVORED CORRUPTION · Lack of transparency and citizen during the planning and decision-making processes · Creation of monopolies and the artificial increase of land prices in the market. · The unresolved property conflicts. · The judicial system aiding monopolies. · Unfinished legislation and in conflict with the decentralization strategy (the interests do not allow the creation of a legal complete package on infrastructure). · CONSEQUENCES · Development of an informal market on the land, followed by transaction often informal. · The building of a non-stable economy and from time to time informal. · Low credit level, especially when the land is used dually · The inclusion of the corruption in many local and central governmental structures and in the courts. · The creation of a new group of owners and investors, without tradition and knowledge on the legitimacy and respect of the property rights. · The lowering of the general economic level. For the considerable weight taken by the developing activity on property, indicators of increase or stopping activities are reflected noticeably in the development of the economy in the country. · The tremor in the employment market and lack of security offered by the sector, that is often followed with the increase of unemployment for long Creation of the monopolies and the artificial increase of land values has a direct impact on the economy and life level for the citizens. III. RECOMMENDATIONS The phenomenon analysis, its distribution, and the involved institutions, leads easily to the action to be taken for improving the situation, from which we emphasize: · Improvement of the legal framework on the respect of property right as a constitutional right. The clearance of the legislation from duality of competences and its fulfillment with a secondary legislation · The correct and timely implementation of the law on “Re-Evaluation of the Property Titles (Ownerships)”. · The increase of institutional collaboration level through all central and local institutions that produce, use, and administer property documents. · To totally eliminate the personal contact of the interested persons in the public offices of the central/local administration, for documentations that pass from one institution to the other. The institutions holding the necessary documentations on the property ownership, releasing property titles, revoking the permits on objects, should communicate institutionally between each other. · To increase institutional efficiency and responsibility by undertaken administrative conflict resolutions. (only the necessary cases should be brought for treatment to the court) · To reconstruct toward efficiency the Property Central Registration Office and its depending Local Offices · COIPR (CENTRAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) and LOIPR (LOCAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) should notice within a short period (decided by the VKM) all the duality cases, property conflicts and all the unregistered or blocked constructions as result of property conflicts. · To notice and register all the state property, in a near future (decide by the VKM decisions) · The government should induce and support in a short period the process of initial registration from the COIPR (CENTRAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION). · COIPR (CENTRAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) and LOIPR (LOCAL OFFICE FOR IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRATION) should increase the level of transparency and control during the process of clearance on duality. · AKP should notice all the privatizations with land owner and object owner conflicts. · AITPP (THE AGENCY FOR THE INVENTORY AND TRANSFER OF PUBLIC PROPERTY) and ZVKKP in respective districts should notice all the property cases in conflict. · The courts should notice all the suspended cases of property conflicts. · To increase the level of awareness on the importance of citizen participation for the territory administration and management · The corruption is fought only by building a system that is capable to resist tendencies, because it may not be sufficient only the identification of individual responsibility. |
