NRC I Displacement, HLP and access to civil documentation in the north west of the Syrian Arab Republic The vast majority of IDP households (92 per cent) reported that they had changed residence in the last 12 months for security reasons. In addition to security, concerns related to housing and shelter were reported to be key drivers of movement within the past 12 months. 34 per cent of the sample reported that they had moved to access better or more affordable housing; and 11 per cent reported that a forced eviction led them to change their residence. 33 It was reported in eight out of 12 FGDs that there was a significant amount of forced eviction from all types of accommodation by armed actors. Respondent interviews and FGDs pointed to very weak security of tenure in areas of displacement. 74 per cent of respondents reported having no written agreement in place in relation to their current residence and of those, 60 per cent reported not even having a clear verbal agreement in place. The lack of clear agreements or agreements of very short duration was also reported as a major HLP threat/ challenge during FGDs. A large majority of IDP households (84 per cent) felt only somewhat sure or were not at all sure whether they could remain in their current residence for three more months if they wanted to, signalling extremely high levels of insecurity of tenure amongst the IDP population across all accommodation types. Other significant HLP-related threats and challenges highlighted during FGDs and KIIs included the lack of ability to register changes in real (i.e. immoveable property, such as land and housing) property ownership 34 and, related to this, the lack of reliable documentation proving ownership of land and property and the falsification of HLP documents, creating risks for real property buyers. It was reported that these types of problems lead to the devaluation of HLP assets and the exploitation of IDPs who are forced to sell their HLP assets for less than they are worth due to their desperate need for money. The IDP population reported that inheritance disputes (reported by 50 per cent of respondents) and rental or ownership disputes (reported by 45 per cent of respondents) are the most common types of HLP disputes that they face in displacement. Overall, the Shari’a court 35 was reported to be the most common way of resolving disputes; however, other dispute resolution mechanisms were also popular, in particular, in the first instance, resolving disputes within families and between the parties and, in the second instance, resolving disputes within families, between the parties and through community mechanisms such as Customary Committees and the Mukhtar. Many other actors, including the police, arbitration committees, Local/ Municipal Councils, de facto land registries, private actors such as facilitators and lawyers, armed actors, area dignitaries and religious leaders were also reported to be involved in dispute resolution, with great geographic variation. Of all HLP dispute types, armed actors were most likely to be involved in cases relating to eviction, occupation and access to and use of land disputes. 33 In this assessment, we interpret displacement to access better and affordable housing as secondary displacement. It is usually undertaken not as a matter of choice but under duress, to avoid substandard and unsafe housing and to avoid forced eviction. 34 Note that there is no registration of new real property transactions in NGCAs of Aleppo and Idleb Governorates. 35 The Shari’a court is regarded as the judicial body in many NGCAs. These courts are established by armed groups, but the level of control over them by armed groups varies from area to area. Shari’a courts often include staff who were lawyers/ judges for the Government of Syria pre-2011 and sometimes also include religious personnel. Shari’a courts have been involved in issuing civil documentation and/ or documentation necessary for the issuance of documents by the de facto civil registries at times but generally Shari’a courts are separate from de facto land registries and de facto civil registries, although sometimes housed in the same buildings as them. Shari’a courts are often involved in HLP dispute resolution. 18 I NRC Assessment Report