The adoption of an escrow law, planned for January to prevent fraud in housing purchases, is being delayed. According to Sherzod Kudbiyev, Chairman of the National Committee for Urbanization, the document is currently with the government, undergoing coordination with the Ministry of Justice, and may be submitted to the Legislative Chamber in March-April.

Under Presidential Decree No. 11, adopted in January last year, an escrow system was supposed to be implemented from January 1 of this year to strengthen financial discipline in construction and create a safe environment for clients. This meant that all developers would be required to carry out their projects based on shared participation through escrow accounts. However, the system has not yet been implemented, even though the decree was adopted a year ago.

Kudbiyev explained the reasons for the delay at a press conference: "Some private banks are saying: let's start working now. But a law is needed to implement the procedures. What is the main point of escrow? If a business entity wants to build housing – let them build, no one is against it. But if they want to attract people's money for this construction, we must regulate this by law. Currently, there is no law for this process, no order. We must coordinate this by law."

He emphasized the need for thorough development of the bill: "What percentage can they receive? If [the house] is not delivered on time, who will answer? If the developer goes bankrupt, what will happen? What percentage of their money will people lose? At what interest rate will the developer get a loan from these attracted funds? There are many open questions. If we adopt it raw, we will be criticized later. Therefore, it needs to be worked out carefully."

Minister of Construction Sherzod Hidoyatov, who participated in the press conference, noted that the escrow system is currently operating on a voluntary basis: "Today, there are various developers working [with shared participation]. We don't know how some of them work with shared participation. Possibly, some work on a pyramid principle. No one knows this. Escrow will regulate this, it will become mandatory." Previously, it was reported that the opening of escrow accounts in Uzbekistan would be allowed from July 1, 2025, and from January 1, 2026, they were supposed to become mandatory.

Source: kun.uz