How to register land squatting: is it possible to do this?

Legal advice / lawyer on land issues / Land disputes / Land squatting

How to formalize the squatting of land into ownership , what is squatting - our land law experts will answer these and other questions.

In the Russian Federation, all territories whose owner has not been determined are considered state. Therefore, by occupying a “nobody’s”, unused, seemingly abandoned plot, you may face fines and other unpleasant consequences. To avoid such situations, it is necessary to study information on how to legalize the squatting of a land plot.

What can be considered squatting?

Land squatting is the use of it for personal purposes by a person or several persons unofficially, without registering property rights. It does not matter whether the captured territory is private, public or state property. No person can own land for which he has not officially registered documents on ownership, use, or lease.

3 ways to get a free legal consultation 01

online free

Call toll-free line 8 (Moscow and regions of the Russian Federation)

Leave a request to our lawyer in the online chat, he will call you back in 5 minutes

Free consultation with a lawyer on land issues Prices for legal services on land issues

Thus, if a person uses land in any way without official grounds: cultivates it, cultivates it, improves the territory, makes plantations, buildings, stores or warehouses things - this is recognized as squatting. To avoid conflicts with government agencies, it is worth registering ownership as soon as possible, if this does not contradict the law.

How to register land squatting in 2020?

A citizen who has occupied a plot of land without appropriate permission from the owner (most often these are state or municipal lands) may be brought to administrative responsibility and must return it to the owner. Let’s look in more detail - “How to formalize the squatting of land into ownership correctly and according to the law?” Responsibility for self-occupation of a land plot. Control over the use of land lies with the authorized supervisory authorities. Their responsibility is to monitor and prevent cases of land squatting, as well as to apply penalties to violators. Punishment in the form of a fine for illegal actions in the field of land relations is: for individuals 1-1.5% of the cadastral value of the land taken by squatter, but not less than 10 thousand rubles; for officials 1.5-2% of the cadastral value, but not less than 40 thousand rubles. for legal entities 2-3%, but not less than 200 thousand rubles. If the cadastral valuation has not been carried out, then fines are set at a fixed amount: for individuals up to 10 thousand rubles; for officials 40-50 thousand rubles; for legal entities 200-300 thousand rubles. In addition to monetary penalties, restoration of the violated rights of owners will be required, i.e. the land is confiscated for the benefit of the owner. In other words, the invader pays a fine and, at his own expense, restores the territory to its original form. To eliminate such problems, it is necessary to legalize ownership of a land plot, i.e. document ownership of it by registering your rights. It should be remembered that this can only be done with lands: which no one else claims; owned by the state (municipality). It is impossible to legitimize areas: falling into the “red” zones of gas pipelines, power lines, etc.; related to the forest fund; already with registered rights of individuals or legal entities. Registration of ownership - step-by-step instructions It should be noted that amendments to land legislation with the introduction of Chapter IV allow the redistribution of municipal or state fund lands to their plots, subject to a number of conditions and on the basis of an agreement between the parties. Thus, it is quite possible to legitimize squatted land. But we are not talking about huge territories, but only about small areas, so that the result is an allotment up to the established maximum sizes. The step-by-step procedure for legalizing land acquisition can be outlined by the following algorithm:

1. Establish the owner - legal holder of the seized land.

There are several ways:

Free - does not require financial investment, is to obtain information on a public cadastral map. Paid - order an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Request to municipal authorities. Further, depending on the form of ownership, the situation is resolved in the following order: if the site is in municipal or state ownership, it is necessary to send an application to the administration to grant it ownership. Then the authority is obliged to follow the entire procedure, including the announcement of the auction, its conduct, the conclusion of the contract and the purchase of property. If the plot is privately owned. Then it is possible to make attempts to find the owner and buy back the ownerless land. Things are more complicated when this territory has not yet passed state registration, i.e. owner is not determined. In this case, you should contact the administration at the location of the land to initiate the land surveying procedure and register it with the cadastral register. Then it is possible to conclude a lease agreement with the administration and subsequently buy the plot.

2. Demarcation of the boundaries of the plot enlarged by the occupied territory and obtaining a cadastral extract. You will first need to agree on the boundaries with your neighbors and make sure that they will not interfere with the land surveying procedure. We will tell you how to demarcate a plot of land in this article.

3. Registration of ownership of the newly formed plot. All data on formed rights to real estate are in the Unified Register maintained by Rosreestr. The extract is issued on the basis of the following documents: citizen’s identity card; documents for the right to dispose, own and use the site; boundary and geodetic plan; document confirming payment of state duty. The registrar accepts documents for processing, gives the applicant a receipt of acceptance and sets a date for receiving the extract. The result of state registration is an extract from the Unified State Register with the name of the owner in the appropriate column. Grounds for refusal of state registration Reasons that registration authorities may cite: lack of a complete package of documents necessary for registration of property rights; presence of a conflict with previously registered rights; detected errors and inconsistencies in the submitted documents; the presence of proceedings regarding land surveying. They may also refuse due to the lack of information about the coordinates of the boundaries of the site or the intersection of the boundaries of already demarcated territories and those registered in the cadastral register. Legislation regarding squatter territories and unauthorized buildings is constantly changing.

Unauthorized occupation of large plots of land is an illegal action and entails liability for the persons who carried it out. They face administrative liability, and in some cases even criminal liability.

Responsibility for squatting

State bodies monitor compliance with land legislation and the correct determination of the boundaries of plots used by owners and tenants. If an illegal seizure of land is detected, an act is drawn up, on the basis of which the violator can be held accountable.

Land squatting is considered an administrative offense (Article 7.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation), for which a fine may be charged, calculated as a percentage of the cadastral value of the occupied territory. Both citizens and legal entities are recognized as violators.

How to find out the owner of a plot

In order to prevent conflict situations and the accrual of fines, it is worth trying to register ownership of a plot of land that is the object of squatting. To understand how to do this, you must first establish the owner.

The easiest way to find out whose ownership a plot is is by the cadastral number. It can be viewed on the Rosreestr website. You can carry out a search query using various parameters. If the site is located in SNT, its number can be obtained from the chairman of the board.

The next thing you need to do is submit a request to Rosreestr or MFC to provide information from the Unified State Register. The statement states:

Details of the person requesting the information;
Cadastral number (or a detailed description of the location of the site, its boundaries);
The municipality on whose territory a piece of land is located.

You must pay a fee for obtaining information and attach a receipt to your application. The received certificate from the Unified State Register must contain information about who the owner is. Unfortunately, there will be no contacts there if the territory is private property. In SNT you can contact the chairman and ask him for channels for communication with the owner.

Registration procedure

The privatization process involves a preparatory stage, collection of relevant documentation and registration of rights to the site. The likelihood of a successful outcome of the case is reduced to zero if the second participant in the conflict makes efforts to defend his property. Otherwise, you can hope to obtain ownership rights.

ATTENTION! The likelihood of success increases if illegal buildings have not been erected on the land.

Preparation

Before submitting documents to the registration authority, you must:

Establish the official owner of the allotment . If it cannot be found, it is necessary to register the land with the cadastral register. In this case, the privatization procedure can begin only after a year by purchasing the plot from the local authorities.
Carry out land surveying if it has not been done previously. Despite the fairly high cost of the procedure, it is necessary because the cadastral plan is included in the list of documents required to register ownership.

The preparatory stage is necessary to establish the value of the site for further purchase and legal exploitation.

List of documents

To obtain a cadastral passport you will need:

applicant's personal passport;
title documents for the site;
land surveying and geodesy plans;
relevant petition;
receipt of payment of state duty.

After the required document has been issued, you must submit to the registration authority:

a corresponding petition (a sample can be found from employees);
cadastral passport;
the applicant's identity card (personal passport);
a document confirming the option of obtaining land;
check for payment of state duty;
land title document obtained from the administration;
information about the non-use or exploitation of the site before seizure, indicating the timing;
decision of the visiting commission.

Where to contact

The circulation authority depends on the stage of registration of land rights.

If a cadastral plan is required, you must contact the BTI and pay for the services of the appropriate specialist.
To obtain ownership rights, you need to visit the land department of the local administration and submit an application.
To register your rights to an allotment, you can contact Rosreestr or the territorial branch of the MFC with a list of necessary documents.

ATTENTION! Before contacting the registration authority, you must pay a fine in the prescribed amount for illegal exploitation of land and attach a confirming receipt.

It should be taken into account that obtaining rights to unauthorized occupied land is only possible if:

the entire necessary list of documents is submitted, each of which complies with legal requirements;
there is no legal proceedings to determine the boundaries of this site; there is a land surveying plan;
there is no conflict with a third party claiming their rights to the allotment.

REFERENCE! The municipality's refusal to register land rights can only be appealed in court.

Deadlines

The period for obtaining land rights consists of the following periods:

obtaining an extract from Rosreestr about the cadastral number of the plot (7 days);
extract of title (2 weeks);
drawing boundaries and obtaining a new cadastral number in case of its absence (14 days);
the arrival of the visiting commission and receipt of its decision (this may take up to several months);
Registration of property rights after submitting documents is carried out within 21 days.

Price

The amount of financial costs for obtaining land rights is not fixed and consists of the following factors:

state duty (2 thousand rubles for individuals and 22 thousand rubles for legal entities);
payment for the services of a cadastral engineer (depending on the region);
payment of penalties.

It turns out that the price of privatization of squatting is from 2,000 to several tens of thousands of rubles.

Thus, the law allows the privatization of a plot obtained as a result of unauthorized occupation of the territory. But it is necessary to take into account the need to pay a fine and the procedure for obtaining property rights.

Public lands in SNT

It will be possible to legitimize the seizure of public land in the SNT only if all the owners with a share agree with the provision of their part to someone alone. After receiving such consent (without exceptions, that is, unanimous), SNT should contact the administration with a request to withdraw the requested part of the territory from public use. When this happens, the buyer will decide on the acquisition of the newly formed cadastral unit with the administration.

It will be possible to register for membership in SNT after registering ownership rights.

If one of the owners, whose interests will be affected by the use of this common territory, does not agree with the sale, it will not be possible to legalize the squatting.

Documents for registering land ownership rights if there are no title documents

A fairly common occurrence is when the owner of a plot does not have confirmation of his rights to dispose of the land. Documents were issued for the opportunity to use the plot a long time ago, and the owner has not yet taken care to formalize the rights to the land within the framework of current legislation.

This is important to know: How to register the land under the garage as your property in 2020

Documents confirming ownership of the land plot.

Read here what documents are issued after land surveying.

In this case, to secure ownership of the plot, you will need the following documents:

application for registration of property rights;
document (decision or resolution) of the authorized body on the allocation of a plot of land for its intended use;
a document confirming payment of the state duty;
document on registration of the allotment for cadastral registration.

If the specified documents are not available or the data in them is outdated, then the process of registering property rights will have to begin by restoring the missing documents.

Self-occupation of state land

You can formalize the squatting of municipal land into ownership by submitting a corresponding request to the administration.

If the plot is not allocated and does not have a cadastral number, land surveying is first carried out at the expense of the buyer. The scheme and boundary plan of the land plot, together with a statement of request for registration of property, are sent to the administration, which will announce an auction after receipt of the application for purchase. If no more profitable buyers are found, the right to make the purchase will pass to the applicant. If the decision is positive, the administration will send a purchase and sale agreement to the applicant, which he can sign if he is satisfied with the conditions.

After paying the redemption amount, ownership must be registered through the registration chamber. This procedure will make it possible to finally legitimize the squatter.

The administration may refuse if:

The illegally seized plot and the applicant’s own land belong to different territorial entities and belong to different categories of land;
The requested territory is public land, or any communications are laid (or will be laid soon) under it;
After merging with the requested plot, the owner’s land area will exceed the maximum size established by law;
Lands are withdrawn from circulation or are not intended for the requested purposes, etc.

If the applicant considers the refusal to be unlawful, he can file a lawsuit. If a refusal is received, the illegal use will have to be stopped and the land plot vacated. There is no compensation for buildings already installed on it or improvement work carried out. The consequences that await the violator upon discovery of squatting may turn out to be much more unprofitable than the costs of registering property according to the law.

Author of the article: Petr Romanovsky, lawyer Work experience 15 years, specialization - housing, family, inheritance, land, criminal cases.

Step-by-step instruction

It is impossible to register ownership of an “ownerless” plot of land in a couple of days; the procedure can drag on for several months. So, what steps need to be taken to become the owner of land:

First of all, an as-built survey of the allotment will be required. This is what surveyors do. Surveying is necessary in order to verify the accuracy of the design for the construction of residential facilities or ancillary buildings on the land. The service will cost you from eight to fifteen thousand rubles.
The second step is determining the boundaries of the site. You will need to contact the architectural department of the district administration and provide paper confirming the possibility of carrying out an as-built survey. The decree on the transfer of land into your ownership will take at least six weeks to prepare.
The next stage is a visit to the Cadastral Agency to obtain an extract about your property. It is necessary for land surveying.
After this, land surveying work is carried out and boundaries are determined. Based on the work carried out, after a month and a half you will be given a land surveying plan, which will subsequently protect you from many bureaucratic problems. The cost of the service is from five to nine thousand rubles.
Purchasing a cadastral passport. You don't need to pay anything for it! It is enough to submit an application to the cadastral agency at the place of “registration” of the object being registered and provide:
passport,
TIN,
certificate confirming the right of ownership of the plot,
a receipt for payment of a fee in the amount of two hundred rubles for registration (cadastre employees will carry out the necessary work, prepare a passport and a plan for the site).
Filling out an application for registration of property rights and paying a state fee of two thousand rubles. If you cannot carry out this procedure yourself, you can contact a specialist who will take care of all the preparation of the necessary papers, or issue a power of attorney with a notary for a relative who can go through the entire process without your personal presence.

This is important to know: The procedure for delimiting state ownership of land

The land is transferred to the ownership of the applicant free of charge or through the execution of a purchase and sale agreement.