Author: Denis Tahiri
The registration of properties in Albania and their legalization has been one of the main problems in the 33 years of the Albanian democratic state. And while citizens go through a long ordeal of procedures for property registration, even state institutions are not left behind. In January of this year, in an appearance for the media, the former head of the State Cadastre Agency, Artan Lame emphasized that the registration of state properties remains a priority, where abuses have been found over the years.
" I bring the example of Shënkoll Prison in Lezha, which has become the owner of the prison yard. The building has remained in the state and the yard has become the owner," said Lame, listing other institutions that have not registered their properties.
"The Presidency does not have any of its own property registered. Law 20/20 was not decreed by the President of the Republic at that time. I have requested its approval because it will pave the way for the registration of state property. The Presidency is still unregistered today," Lame added at the press conference.
"Sinjalizo" has the number of assets owned by the Albanian state, where the latter owns 260 state properties, of which 115 have been transferred to central and local institutions and of which only 20 are registered in the cadastre .
In the registration of state properties, local units have also shown problems. The Municipality of Tirana has under its administration about 13.182, of which 5,755 have been transferred to the ownership and use of the Municipality of Tirana and 7,424 properties that are roads, public squares and various buildings. According to Ina.media , only 911 properties have been registered with the Cadastre, while the full inventory has not been completed as the lists of inventoried properties are being updated.
According to a report of the KLSH, Fier district has a total of 17,016 properties, of which only 4,931 are inventoried. Out of 42 inventory lists, 27 have been approved.
Whereas, in the district of Elbasan there are a total of 38,680 properties and a total of 50 inventory lists, of which only 20 have been approved. In the district of Tirana there are 29 inventory lists but only 21 have been approved. The district of Tirana has a total of 36,785 properties.
Regarding data at the country level, the municipalities must inventory and register 328,096 properties in the cadastre.
Even unregistered lagoons
The lagoons in our country have become a tourist attraction, where they are visited by thousands of citizens throughout the year. According to the High State Control, they have been neglected in terms of management and control.
According to the HSC report, published in December 2022, the fact that there is no registration of protected areas by the National Agency of Protected Areas in the real estate registry is highlighted. According to KLSH, this situation represents a high risk, as they can be alienated or damaged.
The former director of the Inventory of State Properties: In 2013, she stopped everything.
Dhurata Çupi, who held the position of former director of the State Property Inventory at the Ministry of Interior, told "Sinjalizo" that in 2013 the entire process for the transfer of ownership to local governments stopped. " No government decision was made to transfer these inventoried properties to municipalities," she says, adding that the goal was not to transfer them to municipalities because it turned out that the central government had a great interest in the use of these properties.
Asked by "Sinjalizo" about the impasse in registering state properties, Ms. Çupi said, "In 2015, when the reform was implemented, a Council of Ministers issued a decree stating that all properties of municipalities and communes that are merged with the parent municipality, i.e. the center, will be merged with a special decision. The deadline was December 2015, and even today there is no decision to merge the properties and then transfer them to the ownership of the center municipality and then use the municipalities ," says Ms. Çupi.
Another reason why municipalities have not registered a large part of their properties is the fees. "There was an attempt to issue a government decision to remove state properties, but this was not removed either and today we have unregistered properties," concludes Dhurata Çupi.
On the other hand, economist Zef Preçi, when asked by "Sinjalizo" about the economic damage caused to the state by the lack of use of these properties, stated that: " Not only properties that are unregistered but also those that are registered continue to cause missing revenues to the budget due to lack of documentation, lack of registers, etc."
Among other things, Mr. Preci says that the lack of registration of public assets serves as an encouragement for their usurpation and as food for the corrupt part of the administration to "appoint" owners to these objects. "It means that the legalization process extended to them continues to be discouraged for this reason and that certain officials, including judges, can benefit from the abuse of the documentation of these properties," says Mr. Preci.
