HLP

In January, the General Housing Establishment issued newly evaluated housing values within social housing projects that are ready to be allocated in 2022. According to the establishment, the new values would help in achieving the social goals of the projects.

The Antiterrorism Court in Syria is an exceptional entity that contradicts the principles of fair trial, as reflected in the legality of its rulings, including confiscating the properties of those it convicts. Violations are also evident in how outside parties interact with the court’s rulings, for example: people purchasing the properties of convicted “terrorists” in public auctions.

Nearly two decades after launching a number of youth housing projects and four decades after launching savings housing projects, the General Housing Establishment (GHE) began on January 16 to allocate hundreds of housing units to applicants.

Heavy rain and snow storms this month brought increased misery to displaced Syrians living in camps scattered near the Syrian-Turkish border. 

Early in January 2022, the Damascus governorate began removing most of the portable commercial kiosks that had been set up on public property, given that the kiosks’ licencing period had ended last year. However, the governorate may implement a new plan to licence the kiosks at higher prices in the future.

A newly formed committee is examining accusations of violations committed by the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division of the Syrian National Army against residents of the Al-Sheikh Hadid district of Afrin, an area in the western part of Aleppo governorate. Some of the opposition groups in control of Afrin had agreed to form the committee, including the “Azzam” Unified Operations Room and the Revolutionaries Movement with which the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division is affiliated.

Syria’s Real Estate and Building Plots Income Tax Law, issued as part of Decree No. 53 of 2006, imposed an annual tax on real estate and buildings of all kinds, whether partially or fully constructed, for residential, commercial, or industrial purposes.

The Real Estate Finance Oversight Commission (REFOC) held an exam in late 2021 to select real estate experts. Of the 155 trainees eligible for the exam, which was held at the Damascus University Faculty of Law, 127 actually took the test.

In December 2021, the Damascus governorate called on rights holders in the Basilia City area south of Damascus to submit applications for title deeds for their so-called “organisational shares” to the Directorate of Implementation of Decree No. 66. Basilia City is located south of the southern ring highway and covers 954 hectares of land, containing more than 100,000 title deeds according to official statements.

During the first and second meetings of the Damascus governorate council’s first session in January 2022, a dispute broke out shedding light on the duties of the previous Directorate for Implementation of Decree No. 66, particularly the issues regarding the distribution of organisational shares and residents’ lack of access to alternative housing in Marota City.

The pace of implementation of Decree No. 237, issued on September 14, 2021, to establish a zoning area at the northern entrance to Damascus has quickened in recent weeks. The Damascus governorate appears determined to adhere to the timetable set for establishing the development zone in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 10 of 2018. The 2018 law authorises the creation of one or more such zones within the general zoning plan of an administrative unit. The northern entrance project is the first instance of the controversial law going into effect in Damascus governorate.

In late 2021, the governor of Idlib announced that the administrations of the Idlib and Hama governorates were splitting, making Khan Sheikhoun the temporary administrative centre of the regime-held part of Idlib. Most of the Idlib governorate remains under the control of the  hardline Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham. The announcement came alongside an official media campaign encouraging displaced Khan Sheikhoun residents to return to the city, which has an official administrative headquarters but still lacks some basic public services. 

The Financial Law of Administrative Units No. 37 was issued on December 27, 2021, and is meant to regulate the fees and taxes collected by administrative units, as well as the methods for collection. The law also updated some real estate fees, basing them on the “current values” of real estate properties.  

Despite surviving various hardships over the decade-long war, Syrian Alawite women are still deprived of basic property and housing rights. Among these women are those who have borne a great deal of the war’s challenges, such as the widowed wives of regime soldiers.

Threats of use of force between militants in a village in the eastern part of the Suweida Governorate have shed light on the precariousness of housing, land, and property rights. The incident also demonstrated that the most vulnerable local social groups are at the highest risk of losing those rights.

The Hama City Council has decided to demolish around 400 properties built on expropriated land in order to construct a wall for Hama University. The council informed the homeowners in December 2021 that they must vacate their properties without providing any housing alternatives.

The Quneitra Governorate and notables from the city of Khan Arnabeh reached an agreement in late 2021 to address the lack of state property within real estate zone number 1/58, according to a quote attributed by the Al-Watan newspaper to the director of Cadastral Affairs in the Quneitra Governorate.

In late 2021, the local council in Azaz, a city under opposition control in the northern part of the Aleppo Governorate, carried out its first demolition of a “building violation” constructed without a licence. Despite the apparent symbolic nature of the demolition, the council attempted to demonstrate that it is serious about addressing so-called “building violations” and reining in the informal expansion of the city. The council also employed military force in the form of opposition National Army fighters to implement the demolition.

Syria’s Prime Minister laid the foundation stone in December 2021 for the Al-Amal residential suburb project in the city of Hama, located in Al-Naqarneh along the Hama-Aleppo highway.

The Minister of Justice issued Circular No. 38 on December 13, 2021, to resolve disputes in the courts about how to calculate judicial fees for real estate cases. The circular affirmed that such fees are based on the appraised real estate value of a given property under the provisions of Judicial Fees Law No. 1 of 2012, rather than based on the “current value” as stipulated in Real Estate Sales Law No. 15 of 2021.