It is no secret that the function of the RA Government attached State Cadaster is to maintenance of property and real estate records, manage relevant database, provision of documents as stipulated by law. These aspects are also reaffirmed by Government decision 1930-N November 28, 2002. SO the mission of Cadaster is registration of property and its legal protection.
According to RA Civil Code article 19, part 2 and article 176, part 2, in cases, when the property right is to be registered, the property right is issued upon state registration issue. SO if there is no registered right, there is no legal ground. According to RA Civil Code 163, part 1, the right of the ownership subject over his registered property I protected by law. So the property right is emerged upon the occurrence of the will to register by the subject. In this regard,, when the owner concludes an agreement disowning his property (cessation), his property right ceases to be effective. State registration is merely recording the state of affairs and ensures protection of property rights. The opposite situation, when the registration stipulates the state of affairs reverses the logic of property, so until the respective officer has not performed his duty, the citizen’s “will” does not count. In this regards the following logic of the Armenian legislators is also unclear: “ If there is no issued right, then what can cause property registration”. Taking into consideration the mention, I believe it’s time to make legal amendments to limit the role of the cadaster and protect citizens from it.
Due to the great volume of responsibility and authority vested to State Registration agency, the cadaster officials often tend to abuse their power. So their forget their status of registering agency and reject without grounds registration of property until they receive their extra benefit. It becomes even more ridiculous when there is legal act recognizing the property right of the citizen over the given property. Let me say that this is a direct violation of civil code article 14, according to which court decisions are due to implementation by all government agencies of Armenia. In this case the Armenian legislation must provide for punishment by criminal, civil or disciplinary code the official who failed to register the legal property right (law on legal acts, article 92, part 2). In addition, it must be made clear that the implementation of penalties towards the violator will not relieve him of the duty to reimburse the damage inflicted on the registering party. In a different clause, it becomes that cadaster does not comply with legal decisions of courts which is impermissible.
I believe the following legal change will mitigate violations by state officials, There must be three exceptions in which case the state must recognize their legal status regardless of their cadaster registration:
1. Court decision over property right of certain property,
2. Cases stipulated by law (passage of inheritance to the relative, etc.),
3. Decision of higher authority or court recognizing the rejection of property right as groundless (in this case the base document is considered the first registration provided by the cadaster).
In summary, it is important to mention once again the authority of cadaster as agency registering the existing condition of property situation, which is often abused. This circumstance has been reflected in the Court of Cassation decision 3-1640 of September 28, 2006: “Proper submission and preparation of documents must lead to its proper registration and not addition examination, request for further documents or questioning legal property rights of the subject of the matter”.