2.2.1 Housing rights In Uzbekistan, homeowners enjoy private property rights over their dwelling, which is affixed to land.13 Land is considered in the constitution to be national wealth, protected by the state.14 Under article 16 of the Land Code, all land is declared to be state property.15 Homeowners, however, can be awarded significant, enduring property rights over the land to assure security of tenure and the inheritability of homes. These rights include lifetime inheritable possession over the land on which their property is situated, or the right of permanent use or possession.16 Following reforms in 2021, non-agricultural land can now be registered as private property.17 These reforms also give homeowners allocated permanent use, inheritable lifetime ownership or leases over a land plot, and the right to convert the land to registered private property. At the time of writing the conversion process has not yet been widely employed. Property rights over home and land in Uzbekistan are qualified rights in that they can be suspended under certain conditions established in law. One of the means for suspending these rights is compulsory acquisition by the state for public purposes. Until 1 January 2020, the procedure for compulsory acquisition of homes was set out in a 2006 by-law entitled: On the Procedure for Compensation of Damages Caused to Citizens and Legal Entities in Connection with the Removal of Land Plots for State and Public Needs. Because this was a by-law and not a law, it could not in fact lawfully suspend property rights enshrined in the constitution and in legislation. Article 2 of the by-law states: ‘The withdrawal of a land plot or its part (hereinafter referred to as the land plot) for state and 12 A False Sense of Legality public needs is carried out with the consent of the land owner or in agreement with the land user and the tenant – by decision, respectively, of the hokim [mayor] of the district, city, Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Hokimiyats [city municipality or local/regional government administrations] of regions and the city of Tashkent, or by decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.’18 Article 3(1) of the by-law defines the public/state need under which land could be withdrawn. It declares: ‘Decisions on the withdrawal of a land plot and the demolition of residential, industrial and other buildings, structures and plantings (hereinafter referred to as objects) are made solely for the following purposes.’19 These purposes include: • provision of land for the needs of defence and state security, protected natural areas, creation and operation of free economic zones; • fulfilment of obligations arising from international treaties; • discovery and development of mineral deposits; • construction (reconstruction) of roads and railways, airports, airfields, air navigation facilities and aviation technical centres, railway transport facilities, bridges, subways, tunnels, energy system facilities and power lines, communication lines, space activities objects, main pipelines, engineering and communication networks; • execution of master plans for settlements in terms of the construction of facilities at the expense of the state budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as in other cases expressly provided for by laws and decisions of the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan.