How are citizens' land plots taken away? And how can you protect your property?
How land is being confiscated from citizens in the Moscow and Tver regions
I'll touch on an important topic that concerns every citizen who wants to live in a private home and own their own plot of land.
Unfortunately, our land rights are not properly protected by the state, and, as legal practice shows, almost every landowner can lose their land if it falls under the control of influential individuals seeking to acquire it without your consent.
The statute of limitations—a three-year period that begins running not from the moment you acquired the land, but from the moment the party interested in challenging your ownership learned that your land acquisition transaction was illegal—will not help in this situation. Some claims, such as those seeking to remove obstacles to a person claiming ownership of the land, are not subject to statutes of limitations at all. So, don't rely on statutes of limitations; they don't always apply, and it's possible to circumvent them. Of course, legislation on this issue needs to be improved, but we will proceed from the current reality.
But if you're hoping that you're a "Bona Fide Purchaser" because you found a land plot through an Avito ad, ordered an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN) showing no encumbrances, and paid for it—that these circumstances will protect you from land seizure—then, unfortunately, you're also mistaken.
Real-life judicial practice offers numerous examples of land being seized from bona fide purchasers.
For example, seizure is possible if a criminal case has been opened against one of the previous owners, accusing them of theft of the land. In this case, the land is considered to have been sold against the will of the owner from whom it was allegedly stolen, and is subject to recovery from the ultimate owner, including the bona fide purchaser.
However, even a criminal case is not necessary to reclaim land from a bona fide purchaser. It is sufficient for one of the previous owners to prove in court that they lost the land against their will, for example, as a result of improper cadastral surveys.
All of these land seizure schemes have already been tried and tested. Numerous decisions have been issued in the courts of the nearby Moscow region and the Tver region, through which flows the alluringly beautiful Mother Volga, Russia's main waterway. It attracts Moscow residents, willing to spend large sums and resort to various intrigues to acquire a coveted plot of land on the banks of a large body of water.
Today, the practice of confiscating land plots is widespread, often on trumped-up grounds, to suit either commercial interests or the interests of the prosecutor's office. This trend leads to a disruption of the stability of civil legal relations. Land owners cannot be confident about the future. As soon as their land becomes of interest to yet another developer, entrepreneur, or influential, unscrupulous official, expect disaster: the loss of not only the land, but also the house built on it.
How can you protect yourself from this? During the purchase phase, exercise maximum reasonable due diligence: order extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN), request copies of both title and technical documents, research the history of the plot, communicate with neighbors to determine whether or not there is a boundary dispute, and preferably request copies of documents from them if they agree to provide them.
In the event of an existing dispute, everything is always resolved on an individual basis. It is essential to find mechanisms to protect your property, such as rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on specific issues, utilize the provisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and study judicial practice. Insist on the expiration of the statute of limitations. Insist that you are a bona fide purchaser. Confirm that you exercised reasonable diligence during the purchase. If you have erected a structure, indicate this, as land legislation establishes the principle: "the land follows the fate of the structure." If you find yourself in a similar or other difficult situation and want your issue covered on the channel, or you need the help of a land lawyer, please contact me.
Lawyer Ivan Yanovich Belyaev
Phone: +7 926 320 3718,
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://advrf.ru/