Housing in Turkmenistan

The Turkmen term ýaşaýyş jaýy means a dwelling or residential premises. In 2022, Turkmenistan had 1,344,268 residential premises: 1,201,056 were privately owned and 143,212 belonged to the state. The housing stock included 962,858 individual houses, 316,630 separate apartments, 63,141 parts of individual houses and 1,639 dormitories. Rural and urban housing differ substantially. Rural occupants numbered 3,727,699 compared with 3,217,496 urban occupants, and rural homes relied more often on individual systems for water, heating, sewerage and hot water. Electricity reached 6,945,195 occupants and network gas reached 6,738,847 occupants in the 2022 statistics, while central water served 2,699,196 occupants and individual water systems served 4,245,999. Central heating served 1,403,720 occupants compared with 5,541,475 using individual systems. An indoor bathroom or shower was recorded for 2,995,894 occupants, while 3,948,954 used facilities outside the dwelling. A household can build an individual house, buy or sell a dwelling, exchange it, receive it by gift or inheritance, use a mortgage or long-term preferential targeted loan, take part in shared construction, or seek compensation housing after demolition or compulsory taking. A new building normally receives its title after acceptance and state registration. The 2024 procedure for land plots covers ownership, use and lease registration and involves the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Commission on Land Issues and the Ministry of Justice. A national schedule of plot sizes or prices is not established by the available information. A private sale, gift or exchange generally uses a written contract, notarial certification and state registration. The Public Register records title, encumbrances and transactions. Official 2024 guidance gives the real-estate registration process a maximum of 10 working days. A mortgage registration identifies the mortgagee, mortgagor, property and secured obligation. Housing association membership can arise after the full share has been paid. Private rental allows an owner to lease a whole dwelling or a suitable room and to choose the tenant. A written agreement is especially relevant when the owner or the owner's family does not live in the dwelling. The agreement sets the term, rent, repair responsibilities and grounds for ending the tenancy. A private housing lease is registered by the local executive body or local self-government within 10 calendar days after the landlord applies. Current nationwide rent levels, sale prices, mortgage rates and utility tariffs should not be assumed from one locality or contract. The state housing fund, departmental fund and specialized fund serve different public purposes. State-housing access generally concerns Turkmen citizens permanently resident in the locality. The rules provide for one state dwelling for a citizen, spouse and minor children in the locality, while service housing can apply to particular employment situations. Housing-need grounds include a long-term sublease or lease without another dwelling, permanent dormitory residence outside study, sanitary non-compliance, less than 9 square metres per person, two or more families sharing a dwelling or room, and severe illness requiring an isolated room. Applications go to the local executive body or Geňeş at the applicant's residence. A Geňeş is a local representative self-government body. The authority registers the application, uses a normatively fixed list of documents, may not demand additional documents and generally decides within one month. It gives written notice, and deliberate worsening of housing conditions during the previous five years can block registration as needing housing. Applicants may enter general, priority or extraordinary queues. Priority or support groups include war veterans, people with Group 1 or Group 2 disabilities, families or parents of children with disabilities, orphans, people affected by disaster or loss of a home, people raising four or more children, families of people killed in service or public duty, certain discharged military personnel with at least 10 years of service and single parents. The available material does not establish that every person in these groups receives housing immediately. A state tenant signs a written agreement with the authorized state-housing body. The dwelling should be fit for habitation and isolated, and the normal living-area rule is at least 12 square metres per person or at least a one-room apartment. Disabled or elderly tenants and people with severe illness receive preference for a lower floor or a building with a lift where the rules apply. Rent and utilities are paid monthly by the 10th day of the following month. Eligible rural specialists may receive local state housing together with free heating and electricity under categories and procedures set by the Cabinet of Ministers. Privatization requires the consent of adult family members living with the tenant. It is available to Turkmen citizens and stateless persons permanently resident in the dwelling under the applicable rules. An application to the local executive body or Geňeş is registered on the same day. The decision generally takes no more than 30 calendar days, followed by written notice within three working days. A refusal can be challenged in court. Improved-comfort or service dwellings built under Presidential acts may be excluded from privatization, while a person who does not privatize normally retains the right to use the dwelling. During occupancy, an owner may use and dispose of a dwelling subject to neighbours' and third parties' rights. Apartment owners share the costs of maintaining and repairing common property and may form a товарищество собственников жилых помещений, a housing-owners association operating on a public self-government basis. A private landlord provides a fit dwelling, maintains the building and common property, carries out capital repairs and pays utilities where the contract assigns those duties to the landlord. A tenant pays the agreed rent, uses the dwelling for its intended purpose and observes fire, sanitary and environmental rules. Remodeling requires a decision from the local executive body or Geňeş, a qualified project, the owner's consent and prior written consent from affected co-owners. Unauthorized work can lead to an order to restore the previous condition. A court may preserve the work only when it does not infringe third-party rights or create a health or safety threat. Propiska is the official record of a permanent address. Temporary-stay registration covers qualifying absences or mobility situations. Address registration does not prove ownership or title. Registration rules apply to citizens, foreigners and stateless persons, with the State Migration Service handling relevant address or stay-registration functions. Housing ownership, tenancy and migration registration therefore remain separate matters. A private tenancy normally ends at the agreed term or event. An indefinite private lease may generally be ended by the landlord with at least three months' warning, while protections for a subtenant or temporary occupant are weaker. A state tenant may end the tenancy at any time with family consent, and permanent relocation ends the state tenancy. Exchange of state or private dwellings remains subject to consent and other legal conditions. Eviction and major housing transitions generally involve a court. If a dwelling is demolished for land taking, faces collapse, is converted to non-residential use or becomes unfit, the affected household can receive another improved dwelling. Capital repair or reconstruction can require temporary relocation to a fit dwelling in the same locality; the contract continues, relocation and return costs are borne by the landlord, and rent and utilities are not charged during the temporary stay under the stated rules. When a private owner's dwelling is demolished for public needs, the owner can receive an equivalent improved private dwelling or compensation. State-led construction remains a significant supply option. The Parahat-7 plan in Ashgabat provides for 20 nine-storey buildings with 864 families planned for 2024 to 2026, but the available information does not establish access or price criteria. A 2024 Ombudsman report recorded a housing-rights handling error involving an orphan's application and a complaint about a construction contract. That record shows that implementation and complaint handling require attention, but it does not measure the frequency of such problems. Housing choices should therefore be checked against the specific locality, contract, registration status, title records and responsible authority.