Description

While the FDRE Constitution establishes broad principles concerning property, the 1960 Ethiopian Civil Code is the core legislation which governs the right to property in the country. The Civil Code provides extensively on goods in general (its synonym for property), possession, ownership, usufruct, right in rem, servitudes, literary and artistic ownership, and succession and inheritance. Some of these subjects are regulated through subsequently adopted laws which either repealed or qualified the application of Civil Code. Article 1126 of the Code categorizes property into movable and immovable. Article 1130 of the same Code provides that land and buildings shall be considered to be immovable. Except for cases where the property involves an immovable, that prohibits foreigners from acquiring immovable property, all its provisions are basically neutral in terms who the parties to the transactions are/can be. In addition, the Civil Code continues to be one of the most important legislations - regulating certain aspects of the right to adequate housing. Although it prohibits ownership of immovable property by foreigners, it also provides extensively on issues of lease tenure security, requirements of availability of services, and habitability of leased housing. Article 29 of the 2019 Refugees Proclamation, that governs the right to acquisiton and transfer of property, provides that refugees shall receive the most-favored national treatment regarding the acquisition of movable and immovable property.