Despite significant achievements in the field of modern domestic legislation, today there are quite serious shortcomings regarding the sphere of land legal relations. This situation made it possible for citizens to own plots of land without being their owners.
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It's fast and free! A similar situation is quite common in Russia, where at the end of the last century the situation with respect to plots of land - the right to land for a long time remained unclear and not approved in the legal field.
Today, the solution to the problem is the legislation regarding acquisitive prescription. Some cases of completely legally stipulated entry into the rights to own property are considered.
The principle of acquisitive prescription
When using certain options for taking possession of a land plot, you must remember that a whole list of subtleties and legal features must be observed.
Usually a decision regarding land ownership is made by the court, but for this it is extremely important to comply with all legal subtleties without exception, neglect of which entails a number of significant financial and time costs, and subsequently a very likely negative decision of the court.
What, in essence, is the issue of acquisitive prescription and how to use it
In order to resolve the problem in the legislative field, you should know exactly all the legal nuances of land ownership.
On what grounds does the right of ownership arise under the law? See here.
More than a dozen years ago, Russian legal entities and individuals received the right to court recognition of rights to plots of land by reference to the institution of acquisitive prescription.
What is the right of acquisitive prescription under the law? Watch in this video:
The legislative framework for this proceeding is based on the articles of the current domestic Civil Code and Land Code, namely:
- Art. 234 Civil Code of the Russian Federation, parts 1 and 2;
Article 234. Acquisitive prescription
1. A person - a citizen or a legal entity - who is not the owner of property, but who in good faith, openly and continuously owns either his own real estate for fifteen years or other property for five years, acquires the right of ownership of this property (acquisitive prescription).
The right of ownership to real estate and other property subject to state registration arises in the person who acquired this property by virtue of acquisitive prescription from the moment of such registration.
2. Before the acquisition of ownership rights to property by virtue of acquisitive prescription, a person who owns the property as his own has the right to protect his possession against third parties who are not the owners of the property, as well as those who do not have the right to own it by virtue of anything else provided by law or contract grounds.
- Art. 214 Civil Code of the Russian Federation, clause 2;
Article 214. Right of state property
1. State property in the Russian Federation is property owned by the Russian Federation (federal property), and property owned by subjects of the Russian Federation - republics, territories, regions, cities of federal significance, autonomous regions, autonomous districts (property of the subject Russian Federation).
2. Land and other natural resources that are not owned by citizens, legal entities or municipalities are state property.
- Land Code of Russia;
Special conditions are the conditions of continuity, good faith, openness of the fact of ownership of a certain land plot. The absence of legal rights to the allotment for 15 years or longer is recorded.
In accordance with modern legislation, owners of plots can be citizens - individuals and firms, organizations, companies.
However, federal, regional, and municipal entities cannot become owners of plots of land on the basis of acquisitive prescription.
About the conditions for the onset of PPD
To begin registration, the following conditions must be met:
- The statute of limitations for determining land ownership is at least fifteen years. Calculation of the period from the date of application rights;
- Continuous process of possession for a certain period of time, the expiration of the limitation period for possession;
- The site must be used, fertilized, improved and cultivated for at least fifteen years from the beginning of use, confirmation of the continuity of operation of the plot is necessary;
- Confirmation of the use of the land for its intended purpose. But the tenant of the plot may not have a legal relationship with the owner, but there is a need for the potential opportunity for others to observe the use of a particular plot;
- Conscientious use and confirmation of the absence of intent to occupy someone else's land useful for cultivation.
Conditions for the exercise of personal data rights.
The land issue has been and remains one of the most important and significant in the field of state law.
Continuity of ownership
The court must take into account such a condition as continuity of ownership. The Code says that continuity is counted if the person did not commit conscious overt actions indicating self-removal from the responsibilities of the owner: maintaining order, security, intended use, personal presence. Continuity of ownership must not be disrupted when ownership passes to the assignee. It is not considered a violation of continuity if it is caused by a good reason (for some time, ownership rights are transferred to another person; this is a necessary measure to maintain the site in working condition).
An additional condition specified in Art. 8 of the Civil Code, is the use of the land plot as one’s own. This requirement indicates that the owner must approach the use of the land not as a temporary worker, but as an owner who has come forever. In other words, the use of methods of profit and rapid wear and tear of the land indicates that the principle of use is being violated. If the owner manages the property in a businesslike manner, takes care of the condition of the land, and fulfills long-term plans, then this is treated as if it were his own.
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We file a claim, the scope of the package of documents for the court
How does the judicial procedure take place?
Such issues are regulated by domestic legislation. A sample statement of claim for recognition of property rights by acquisitive prescription can be downloaded below for free.
Sample statement of claim for recognition of ownership rights by acquisitive prescription.
First of all, you need to complete the following tasks:
- The statute of limitations for land ownership must exceed 15 years. The calculation is carried out from the beginning of the rights of ownership of this plot;
- Continuous process for at least fifteen years. A person applying for a plot of land must confirm that ownership of the plot was legal. An exception may be situations where the principle of use could be terminated and resumed according to norms determined by law (clause 3 of Article 234 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Article 234. Acquisitive prescription
3. A person referring to the prescription of possession may add to the time of his possession the entire time during which this property was owned by the one whose legal successor this person is.
To obtain a positive court decision, the evidence base and its quality preparation are extremely important.
The court makes a decision based on the evidence presented, which irrefutably confirms the openness, continuity, and good faith of ownership of the plot.
Sample statement of claim.
Required documents
The package of documents may be different, which in turn depends on the individual conditions of the applicant and the objective reasons for the problem.
Basic package:
- Technical plan, passport and other documents for this site, from the BTI in copies;
- Applicant’s passport, certificate of TIN assignment, copies;
- Documented evidence of continuous ownership of the site for at least 15 years. Evidence may include statements of witnesses or neighbors recorded by officials, receipts for payment of land fees and remuneration for work carried out on the site.
The court's decision cannot be considered completely unambiguous and final; it is possible for third parties who may have claims to the land to go to court.
Further actions after the court decision
So, a decision regarding ownership has been received.
But this is far from the last stage in order for the procedure to be completed in the legal field before the moment determined by law.
Having a positive court verdict in hand, you should begin the procedure for registering an allotment of property.
What is land encumbrance? What kind of encumbrances are there? Answers at the link.
The Court Order contains precise information and identification of the site. The location, link to the legal address, and Cadastre number are indicated.
The absence of a number does not allow the property to be registered even if there is a positive verdict.
Registration procedure
Recognition of property rights occurs through the judicial authorities, since citizens do not have documents that are the basis for registering this right. By law, the owner has the right to go to court. After a decision is made in relation to the case and comes into force, the owner will have grounds for state registration.
In order to register ownership, the plot must be registered in the cadastral register. Without this procedure, you will be denied registration of ownership, since identification of the site is impossible.
According to Law No. 221 “On the State Real Estate Cadastre”, activities related to the preparation of the necessary documentation are carried out in our country by cadastral engineers.
Since 2020, all issues related to cadastral activities have been taken into account in the Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 218 “On State Registration of Real Estate”.
After the land surveying procedure carried out by a cadastral engineer, the plot is placed on the cadastral register. It is assigned a number. Cadastral documents also indicate the address and area of the plot, its category, and permitted use. All information about real estate objects is stored in Rosreestr.
Documents can be submitted to:
- Rosreestr branch at the location of your site;
- Rosreestr website;
- MFC (multifunctional center);
- State Services portal;
- send your application by mail.
Among the listed methods, the last one is less common. They resort to it in special cases when it is not possible to use others. Nowadays, more and more people are using online applications when submitting documents to government agencies.
Rosreestr is no exception. You can fill out an application electronically both on the Rosreestr website and on the State Services portal. This will not take much time, and you can submit an application at any time of the day.
To enter the data, you will need all documents for registration of rights. Payment can also be made in any convenient way: by card, through an electronic wallet and terminal.
After 7 working days, you can pick up the finished extract, having previously presented the original documents. Those who do not like to stand in queues and work schedules do not allow visiting Rosreestr turn to the MFC.
The entire procedure, amount and method of payment at the MFC and Rosreestr are identical. Only the period for reviewing documents through the center increases by 2 days.
Package of documents
After the court decision comes into force, you need to contact Rosreestr for legal registration of property rights.
In addition to the application, you must have the following documentation:
- applicant's passport;
- the court's decision;
- cadastral passport for the plot>;
- receipt of payment of state duty (for individuals - 2000 rubles).
As already mentioned, the plot must be registered in the cadastral register, otherwise registration will be denied. According to the law, ownership can only be registered for a certain plot. Clarification of the boundaries of the land plot and the entire land surveying procedure is carried out by a cadastral engineer.
Until the court makes a positive decision, it is better not to apply for land surveying. This is a fairly expensive procedure. After the decision, you need to write an application to the company of cadastral engineers, and within a month you will receive all cadastral documents, including plans.
Term
The period for reviewing documents and registering rights is seven working days. After this, you will be given a document or will be refused. The refusal must be justified and documented in writing.
If you submitted documents through the MFC, the decision will be made within 9 working days.
Since the summer of 2020, according to amendments to the legislation, instead of a Certificate of Ownership, an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate is issued. Currently, the certificate and extract are equivalent in their legal force. Therefore, those who have retained the certificate do not need to exchange it for other documents.
Going to court
The claim can be filed in one of 2 options. The first will be a claim for recognition of the fact of acquisitive prescription, and the second - recognition of ownership. The parties are the applicant (owner); in the second option, the plaintiff and the interested party (or defendant).
The following is presented as evidence:
- documents that prove the absence of the owner (extract from the state cadastre);
- references from archives;
- if the right of use was transferred - documents proving the relationship;
- testimony from neighbors;
- papers that will confirm that the site has been used.
Within three days from the time the case is considered, the court makes a decision.
A sample land sublease agreement can be used when drawing up the document.
The procedure for registering a plot by acquisitive prescription
Recognition of the ownership rights of the owner of a plot of land due to acquisitive prescription occurs through the court.
Since the actual owner of the land does not have documents confirming the legal ownership of this land, he, according to the Russian Civil Code (Article 234), can apply to the courts to recognize his ownership rights.
Only after receiving a positive court decision in response to the corresponding statement of claim and its entry into force, does the owner of the land have grounds for state registration of the ownership of a plot of land acquired through the court due to prescription.
It should be noted that the judge’s ruling must clearly identify the plot of land. This means that from the document it is possible to accurately determine which plot of land is the object of a court order.
To do this, the decision indicates the location (address) of this plot of land, its category, area and cadastral number. If this plot of land is not yet registered in the cadastral register, then registration of ownership rights to it will be denied.
Documents for registration of rights
To obtain a registration certificate for a plot of land acquired by virtue of the legal institution of acquisitive prescription based on a court order, the following documentation is required:
- a document confirming payment by the applicant of the registration fee in favor of the state;
- a judge’s decision that has the force of title documentation for a plot of land;
- the applicant's identity card;
- cadastral passport and other technical documents for the plot of land being registered.
The issuance of a registration certificate to the owner of the land who has taken ownership on the basis of the relevant judicial act does not prevent such registration of rights from being subsequently challenged through the court by third parties who consider themselves to be the legal owners of this plot of land. Sample of filling out an application for redevelopment of a residential premises
Procedure for eviction from an apartment of a registered person (not the owner)
Full list of five-story buildings falling under the renovation program in Moscow
Procedure for registering ownership of unauthorized buildings
The right to free temporary use of a land plot
Do you need your spouse's consent to purchase real estate?
Registration procedure in the register
When all positions have been thoroughly double-checked, you should contact Rosreestr within the period stipulated by modern domestic legislation - no more than thirty days - to register the acquired right of ownership.
How can you prove your PPD? Answers in this video:
The following should be submitted:
- Standard application for entering data into the Unified State Register of the Russian Federation regarding the consolidation of a decision made in court;
How to properly register land ownership? Details here.
- The decision as the main legal document for land;
- Passport and TIN code of the applicant;
- Cadastral passport and plan in copy;
- Original receipt for payment of state duty.
No more than a month from the date of submission of the package of documents, an employee of Rosreestr makes a corresponding entry. The owner takes legal ownership. If necessary, the owner can obtain an extract from the Register by submitting the appropriate application.
Going to court
Judicial establishment of the rights of the owner of a property without an owner is possible in several ways.
Civil procedural rules (Articles 262, 264 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation) establish that in the absence of disputes about the right to land, as well as if it is impossible to establish the past owner of the property, it is necessary to go to court in a special proceeding.
If, during the filing of an application, or when considering the materials on the merits, a dispute about the law within the jurisdiction of the court is discovered, the progress of the case will be suspended and the application will remain without consideration.
In this case, you can apply in the manner provided for in Art. 263 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation – statement of claim.
The claim must be submitted in writing with the obligatory indication of:
- details of the judicial authority where the filing takes place;
- in the main part, specific circumstances are prescribed: period of ownership, features, existence of legal disputes and other factors relevant to the case;
- a violated right, or the reason why it is not possible to realize it. In this case, this is the desire to register real estate as a property;
- the price of the claim, which consists of the inventory value of the property;
- the conclusion states the requirement for recognition of the fact of bona fide ownership with the possibility of formalizing the rights of the owner.
Filing a claim involves preparing the required documents:
- extract from the real estate register, house plan, any other real estate documents;
- all kinds of certificates, checks and receipts, which can be used to establish the fact of decent and responsible ownership of land;
- receipt of payment of the mandatory fee for consideration of the case within the framework of judicial proceedings.
According to Art. 30 of the Code of Civil Procedure, a claim must be filed in the district or city court at the location of the property.
Judicial practice in cases of this category in the Russian Federation has already developed. This was facilitated not only by the large number of similar cases, but also by the interpretations given by the highest courts.
Due to the mandatory duration of ownership (15 years), disputes with former owners are extremely rare.
The main difficulties may arise if there is common or shared ownership.
By the way, obtaining rights to illegal (unauthorized) construction is also not the easiest procedure, which has a large number of its own characteristics. However, if all existing conditions are met, the court will most likely side with the plaintiff and allow the registration of ownership.
In accordance with Art. Art. 11, 12 of the Civil Code, the civil rights of a long-standing owner to a land plot can be defended by recognizing them in court, for which he will have to file a lawsuit in court. A long-standing user has two options for indicating the subject of the claim:
- if this is a claim for recognition of the plaintiff’s ownership of a land plot, the defendant will be the owner who is indicated in the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
- if the owner is unknown to the plaintiff, a claim is filed to recognize the fact of bona fide possession of the land for a long time. In this case, a representative of Rosreestr is involved in the process.
According to the general rules of jurisdiction, an appeal is filed in a world court (if the value of the claim is less than 50 thousand rubles) or a district court. The price is determined taking into account the cost of the site, but not lower than the inventory value according to the BTI documents (clause 9, clause 1, article 91 of the Civil Procedure Code (CCP).
Considering that the price of any plot exceeds 50 thousand rubles, the claim should be filed in the district court located at the location of the plot (Article 30 of the Code of Civil Procedure).
We invite you to familiarize yourself with: Acquisition limitation period for a land plot
If acquisitive prescription is recognized for a land plot in SNT located outside the city, the issue is considered in the court of the district center.
Filing a claim
An appeal to the court is formalized in the form of a statement of claim in accordance with Art. 131 Code of Civil Procedure, that is, in writing with the obligatory indication:
- full names and details of the parties and the court to which it is filed;
- circumstances of the situation: long-term possession of the plot, the grounds for such possession, the period and circumstances of the use of the land, the absence of disputes and claims on the part of the former owner and other persons;
- the essence of the violated right: the desire to acquire ownership rights due to the long-standing use of the land, but the refusal or impossibility of recognizing this right by the registration authority;
- the cost of the claim, which is calculated from the cost, including inventory;
- claims - recognition of ownership or the fact of bona fide possession of the site.
If you have certain skills, you can draw up a statement of claim for acquisitive prescription for a land plot yourself. The sample application below will help with this. If you do not have the skills to draft business and legal correspondence, we recommend that you contact a lawyer.
Package of documents
In addition to the statement of claim, according to Art. 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure, an application to court must be supported by a package of documents, which includes:
- copies of submitted applications in an amount corresponding to the number of respondents;
- receipt of payment of state duty;
- documents confirming the circumstances specified in the claim, including: an extract from the Unified State Register indicating the owner;
- copies of receipts for payment of funds for the maintenance of the site: contributions to the SND/DNT, repayment of land tax;
- receipts confirming the investment of funds in the improvement of the land: arrangement of fencing, wiring of utilities, laying garden paths, purchase of building materials, and so on;
Nuances of judicial practice
One of the most common methods of obtaining land legally confirmed is the judicial procedure.
In practice, there are quite ambiguous situations. Quite often, different courts make decisions that are diametrically opposed in content.
Examples
A court in one city recognized the ownership of half a plot of land divided during a divorce between a husband and wife. More than two decades passed, I cultivated the entire plot when my ex-wife was not involved in cultivation. The court of this city recognized the claim as legitimate and transferred part of the wife to her ex-husband.
In a similar situation, the district court of another locality rejected the claim, based on the fact that the wife’s share was processed by the husband, despite the fact that he knew that it was her material value. The principle of good faith was violated.
The practice of such decisions became common a few years ago due to the previous weak legislative framework and the potential for ambiguous verdicts in similar situations.
Advice
Citizens of Russia, seeking to secure their land allotment, currently have insufficient information about the legislative nuances of using the country’s main wealth.
Acquisitive prescription, its terms and possibilities of exploitation in no way act as a basis for ownership of land.
But such a situation creates all the conditions for establishing the legal right to acquire property.
The court today considers only conflict situations of this nature only in relation to private landholdings.
In other situations, you should resort to legal assistance.
Grounds for refusal to recognize property rights
Long-term possession of ownerless or someone else's land is not enough to recognize ownership rights under the PDnZ. The court is obliged to make sure that all conditions for the long-term use of land are observed, and if there is at least one discrepancy, it will refuse to recognize the right of ownership.
In addition, the grounds for refusal will be:
- incorrect calculation of the limitation period for possession, including failure to take into account the 3-year limitation period during which the legal owner could go to court to claim the plot;
- ownership of the site on the basis of title, for example, by the right of perpetual free lease, perpetual trust management or by other agreement;
- adverse possession - use of a site through unauthorized occupation with the knowledge that it belongs to third parties;
- concealing the fact of land ownership from legal owners and regulatory authorities;
- the presence of long breaks in ownership not related to the transfer of property for temporary use to third parties;
- a claim on the part of the legal owner to reclaim a plot of land from illegal possession, provided that before the long-standing owner filed a lawsuit in court, he did not know about such possession.
