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Developers in Uzbekistan will be barred from advertising apartment buildings or individual units unless their project declarations have first been registered in the country’s Unified Information System — a restriction embedded in a sweeping new law on shared-equity construction that the Legislative Chamber approved on 10 November and forwarded to the Senate.
The Law on the Construction of Apartment Buildings and Other Real Estate through Shared-Equity Participation introduces mandatory escrow accounts, tightens the conditions under which developers may solicit funds from buyers, and requires that all participation agreements be notarised and registered with the state. The advertising prohibition, set out in Article 73, applies not only to developers but to any other party seeking to promote a project or its apartments before the declaration appears in the system.
Escrow Accounts at the Centre of the Reform
The core financial change is the requirement that buyers’ contributions be held in escrow at an authorised bank rather than passed directly to the developer during construction. Funds will be released to the developer only after the building has been completed in line with applicable requirements and formally commissioned. Before raising any money from buyers, a developer must satisfy the statutory eligibility criteria, secure registration in the Unified Information System, sign a master agreement with an authorised bank and publish the project declaration.
If a developer collects funds in breach of those conditions, investors will be entitled to demand a full refund together with interest for the period their money was held. The law also establishes financial mechanisms to replace an authorised bank or developer mid-project without interrupting construction financing — a provision lawmakers described as a safeguard against the stalled projects that have left buyers without homes or recourse under the existing framework.
Scope and Timeline
The legislation will come into force after Senate approval and the president’s signature. Projects that already hold building permits at that point will not be subject to the new requirements, meaning the rules apply prospectively to future developments. Shared-equity agreements and any subsequent amendments will require notarisation and state registration, adding a layer of formal oversight to transactions that have historically been loosely documented.
The measures reflect longstanding pressure to bring greater transparency to Uzbekistan’s off-plan housing market, where buyers have often paid upfront for apartments in projects that were delayed, restructured or abandoned. By tying advertising rights to a publicly registered declaration and locking buyer funds in escrow until completion, the law attempts to shift the financial risk away from individual investors and onto developers and their banking partners.