The "6-sotix" problem: what issues might a person who obtained a land title today face tomorrow?
Certain situations in the city of Bukhara have revealed specific loopholes in the recognition of rights to undocumented housing. In particular, due to the incorrect determination of when the land was occupied, a portion of an intact yard is being registered as a household plot. Lawyer Bobur Koryogdiyev speaks about the problematic consequences of automatically registering an area of more than 6 hundredths of a hectare (sotix) as a household plot.
The "6 sotix" problem: what issues could a person who received a cadastre today face tomorrow?
While the first nationwide campaign to recognize rights to housing and land plots that had remained undocumented for years in Uzbekistan was introduced by Presidential Decree No. 5421 on April 20, 2018, the second "campaign" was adopted by Law No. 937 in 2024.
The purpose of the law is to legalize real estate properties that have actually existed for many years, but whose documents were not fully formalized even during the first nationwide campaign. However, certain norms in the law or errors in their application are giving rise to new problems today.
The issue is not limited to a single household or a single cadastre document. The problem is related to the application of Article 12 of the above law, the correct determination of when the land was occupied, and the practice of automatically registering areas exceeding 6 sotix as land for a dekhan or personal subsidiary farm.
Where did the 6 sotix in the law come from?
According to Article 12 of the current version of Law No. 937, if the land plot built with individual housing was occupied prior to January 1, 1999, the lease right is recognized in all regions for an area of no more than 0.24 hectares — that is, 24 sotix. If the land was occupied from January 1, 1999, to May 1, 2018, this amount is set at 0.06 hectares — 6 sotix — in the cities of Tashkent and Nukus and regional centers, and 0.12 hectares — 12 sotix — in the remaining regions.
The history of introducing such a rule into the law is connected with the Land Code. It was through the Land Code that the restriction of 0.06 hectares — 6 sotix — first came into force.
An important aspect is that Law No. 1153 of June 15, 2026, modified the time limit in Article 12: the previous date of "July 1, 1998" was replaced with the date "January 1, 1999." Therefore, in current practice, the date of January 1, 1999, must be taken as the criterion.
Article 12 also specifies that if the actual area of land occupied by individual housing exceeds the limit set by law, the lease right to the excess portion shall be recognized for running a dekhan or personal subsidiary farm, provided it does not harm the rights and legitimate interests of other persons.