In Kazakhstan, many families follow a familiar path to a home of their own: join the queue for a free plot of 10 sotok (0.1 ha), receive the land and build a house. Inside Alatau that path is closed, and not by a temporary moratorium but by a constitutional law.
What exactly is banned
Article 67 of the Constitutional Law “On the Special Legal Regime of the City of Alatau” of 8 May 2026 prohibits granting land in the city and its suburban zone for private housing construction, dachas, gardening, household plots and farming.
Unallocated state land forms the city’s land fund. Plots from it go to Alatau residents — companies holding a business licence — and only for a fee. The fund is managed by the city administration.
We covered the regime itself in “Alatau’s Special Legal Regime”.
What happens to people already in the queue
The former villages that became part of Alatau had their own queues for free plots. On 25 August 2026 Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture approved rules for moving them:
- at the applicant’s request, the queue place moves to another settlement of the same category where plots are still granted;
- the application goes to the local executive body with an ID copy and the queue notification showing the number;
- the decision takes up to 15 working days;
- the original registration date, grounds and settlement category are kept, so the new position is counted from the old date;
- the rules apply from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2027.
Queue members can check their number and date in the state land cadastre account (“My profile” → “My queues”) or on eGov, using a digital signature.
What it means for buyers
A private house in Alatau can only be bought on the market. No new plots for private houses will appear within city limits. Supply is limited to plots and houses already registered in the older neighbourhoods such as Koyankus, Enbek and Zhanaarna. New housing in the city will be mostly apartment blocks.
Before buying land, check whether it is earmarked for development. Under the same Article 67, the city council designates two kinds of areas. In priority acquisition areas, land is compulsorily purchased for public needs: infrastructure and the city’s land fund. In prospective development areas, the owner gets two years from the administration’s notice to start investing, and land tax rises by a multiple every year in the meantime. If the plot stays undeveloped, compulsory acquisition can begin.
One detail matters most: the two-year term does not restart when the plot is sold. The buyer inherits the clock. Before any deal, ask the seller whether a notice has arrived, request the title documents showing the designated use, and confirm the area’s status with the city administration.
Farmland is not a back door into Alatau. Article 70 allows unused agricultural plots in prospective development areas to be taken separately. Buying such land in the hope of reselling it for construction is risky.
If you want a house with land, look for an existing property with the correct designated use and outside acquisition areas. If an apartment works for you, focus on residential complexes — that is where the city is placing its bet.
Sources: Constitutional Law “On the Special Legal Regime of the City of Alatau”, Adilet legal database; zakon.kz — rules for land plots for private housing in Alatau approved.