Warning to apartment buyers: housing areas are being artificially inflated

Cases have become more frequent in Azerbaijan where citizens, upon purchasing apartments in new buildings, later discover a shortage of square meters.

As reported by BAKU.WS with reference to Xəzər TV, the main dissatisfaction of buyers is related to the fact that some construction companies dishonestly include extraneous areas in the total footage of the housing.

Real estate expert Ramil Osmanly noted that the rules for calculating apartment areas are clearly regulated by Article 59 of the Urban Planning and Construction Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

However, according to him, certain developers, in violation of regulatory requirements, measure the area from the external walls of the building, artificially inflating the figures in documents. As a result of such manipulations, buyers suffer serious financial losses, overpaying for nonexistent "square meters."

The expert emphasized that to curb such fraudulent schemes, the state needs to tighten control mechanisms in the construction sector. Citizens themselves are strongly advised when finalizing a transaction to carefully verify the area specified in the contract against the technical passport of the property and, in case of detecting fraud, not to be afraid to challenge the developer's actions in court.