Land surveying - coordination with neighbors: how it happens, is the consent of neighbors necessary, how to challenge it, samples of acts and statements

The demarcation of land between neighbors is regulated by the Land Code. To carry it out, the procedure must be strictly followed. It is worth remembering that mistakes made during land surveying can be costly not only in terms of lost money, but also in terms of losing in court. If the boundaries of the plots are correctly determined, the setbacks from neighboring plots will be observed during the construction of residential premises. To do this, you need to study in advance how many meters you need to retreat from the neighboring house.

How land surveying with neighbors occurs step by step

The procedure for surveying a land plot with its neighbors is carried out in stages and has its own algorithm for carrying out the work. This procedure must be strictly followed. The legality of the actions taken will depend on this. The phasing consists of the following works:

contact a cadastre engineer to conclude an agreement for the provision of land surveying services. The specialist will draw up an act on the basis of which the site will be registered;
notify interested parties. To do this, you must choose a written notification method. Such actions will help in the future if claims arise from neighbors;
if interested parties notified in advance are absent from the procedure, then there is no point in refusing to carry it out;
in the absence of the owner of the site, who has not expressed written objections to the land survey, it is necessary to make a note in the approval act. The boundary plan must be supplemented with documentation that will confirm the fact of proper and timely notification;
the unknown owner of the land is notified by posting an announcement about land surveying in the media. If after a month there is no response, then the approval is made by default.

We recommend reading: “The distance from the house and other buildings to the neighbors’ fence.”

In these situations, land surveying can be carried out pre-trial. When surveying, neighbors' signatures are required!

If, nevertheless, the neighbor expresses his refusal to carry out the procedure and indicates convincing reasons, then determination of the boundaries will become possible only by a court decision. In this way, you can isolate yourself in a private house from annoying neighbors and, for example, you can hide the pool from the neighbors’ eyes.

We advise you to read: ““Measure seven times...”, or how to maintain the distance between buildings on your site and not offend your neighbor.”

How is land surveying carried out?

In order to register ownership of a plot, you need to go through a whole procedure. However, without proper documents, the object cannot be disposed of, sold or bequeathed.

Expert opinion

Stanislav Evseev

Lawyer. Experience 12 years. Specialization: civil, family, inheritance law.

In 2021, the dacha amnesty continues to operate. This is a simplified system for registering real estate, including land plots, as property.

The first step in registering an allotment is to determine its boundaries. For this purpose, a specialized procedure is carried out - land surveying.

The land surveying process includes the preparation of documents and a personal inspection of the land plot by a qualified specialist.

In 2021, the issue of land surveying is quite acute. Therefore, the cadastral engineer who carries out the land surveying procedure must pass special exams, have personal tools and insurance against errors.

Since if he makes a mistake, a conflict may flare up between neighbors, which with a high percentage of probability will result in a lawsuit.

The result of land surveying is the entry of data on the boundaries of the site into the Unified State Register of Real Estate. From this moment on, the plot is considered an individual property object.

How to notify a neighbor (and whether it is necessary) about land surveying

The main thing to remember is to notify your neighbors. The first method to try is personal collection of consents. In this case, you should print out notifications and go around all the neighbors yourself. This method is good when adjacent plots are not in disrepair and the owners are known.

If there is no real opportunity to see the owners of the land, then, if you have information about their residential addresses, you can send notifications by mail. It is better to send by registered mail. The postal service will be responsible for delivering this document.

It is also worth remembering that you will have to notify at least three times. There must be a 3 week interval between shipments.

In the absence of information about the owners, it will be necessary to publish it in the media. You need to perform these steps 3 times. All newspaper issues should be retained. They may be needed if the owner of neighboring lands shows up and, being dissatisfied with the results of the land survey, tries to challenge them in court.

Our recommendations: “Everyone has the right to privacy, or is it possible to install a blank fence between neighboring areas.”

Invalid land survey

Land surveying may be declared invalid if it was carried out with the following violations:

formal execution or failure to comply with the procedure for coordination with neighbors;
there is no specific data in the act on boundary delineation;
presence of violations in the approval procedure due to the fault of the cadastral engineer. He is responsible for the correctness of the calculations;
During demarcation work, the rights of neighboring owners were affected.

Sometimes, even if there are clear boundaries that have undergone the official land surveying procedure, neighbors may refuse to accept the measurement results. In such cases, you should remember that going to court is a last resort; it is better to try to resolve everything amicably.

Is the consent of neighbors required when surveying a plot of land?

The neighbor’s consent to land surveying will not be required if the procedure was officially notified through official sources.

If a site is surveyed without the consent of a neighbor, as well as his failure to appear at the procedure itself, subject to proper notification, work can begin. Notification must be made in writing. Compliance with all the rules will allow you to maintain the demarcated boundaries of the plots and will not give you the opportunity to challenge them in court. The presence of notifications is attached to the land surveying act.

In what situations is it permissible to carry out the procedure without the consent of neighbors?

The document will be considered agreed and signed, and there will be no need to coordinate with neighbors in the following cases:

the owner of land located in SNT, other partnerships or in any other form of ownership sent a registered letter notifying the neighbor. I did not receive a refusal or any motivated claims in this regard;
the letter was also sent three times, and there was no response;
I can’t find my neighbors and find out their location in any way.

This list may also include any other valid reasons, for example, business trips, staying away from the place of registration, when the person cannot physically arrive to sign the act.

What to do if neighbors could not be found

If for some reason you cannot find the address of your neighbors in the garden plot or the location of the neighbors themselves is unknown, and it is not possible to find out, then you need to contact Rosreestr, where an extract about the copyright holders from the Unified Register will be issued.

This procedure will require payment of an additional service fee. Its amount depends on the time when this right arose and the status of the person himself.

The motivation for obtaining such a certificate is to carry out land surveying work. The applicant will be required to present the following documents:

identity verification document;
papers confirming the right to the plot.

The letter must be sent three times to the address indicated in the extract; it must be registered, as already stated above. The extract itself and postal documents, namely a check, a list of documents being sent, should be combined and transferred to the cadastral engineer. Based on these documents, the land surveying procedure will already be legal. The organization usually takes responsibility for coordinating further actions.

What to do if your neighbor doesn't agree

If a neighbor of an adjacent plot does not sign the act of approving the boundaries of the land plot, then the best option would be to go to court. This issue will arise most acutely in a situation where a neighbor arbitrarily seizes part of the lands that do not belong to him and refuses to eliminate the violation. What to do when a neighbor climbs onto my property becomes immediately clear - go to court.

In this case, the court will restore the legal boundaries of the plots and make appropriate adjustments to the documentation.

It is possible to carry out land surveying without obtaining the consent of the owners of adjacent plots in some cases:

Ignoring by the neighbor notifications about the planned land survey, which were sent to him three times by registered mail;
The notification was carried out properly and there is appropriate confirmation, but the neighbor did not make any claims;
The absence of a neighbor for a long time when his whereabouts are unknown or there is information about his departure from the country;
Availability of a neighbor's permission obtained through an electronic signature. This option can be used if a neighbor has been in another region for a long time and has no real opportunity to come for the procedure.

When going to court, the main reason for filing a claim should reflect the neighbor’s refusal to carry out the procedure. At the same time, it is worth remembering that the plaintiff himself should not violate the rules of exploitation of the territory allocated to him and respect his borders.

When coordination with neighbors is not required

There is no need to coordinate the boundaries with any of the neighbors if the boundaries of the plot are already in the cadastral register and land surveying is carried out to divide the plot into several plots or combine several plots into one. In these cases, the law does not require coordination of boundaries with neighbors.

If you have questions, you can consult for free. To do this, you can use the form below, the online consultant window and telephone numbers (24 hours a day, seven days a week): 8 Moscow and region; 8 St. Petersburg and region; all regions of the Russian Federation.

How to challenge a neighbor's land survey

The placement of a private house and the definition of neighbors' boundaries becomes a frequent subject of dispute. Owners can express their disagreement with the resulting measurement result. Particularly suspicious people always think that they will definitely be deprived of the established markings and their rightful property will be taken away. A conflict also arises if the owners of neighboring plots are not notified of the very fact of land surveying.

An analysis of judicial practice has shown that a neighbor who has seized part of a land plot that did not previously belong to him may face real punishment in the form of a fine. In the case of squatting, subject to bona fide ownership and the absence of disputes or claims from other citizens for 15 years, no fine will be collected. In this case, for example, driving through an unfenced neighbor's garden will not be punishable.

In order to resolve a boundary dispute, you must first use pre-trial settlement of the issue. This path is considered peaceful and easiest. If it is not possible to reach an amicable agreement, then you will have to resort to a judicial solution to the issue. Pre-trial regulation will be expressed in the following actions:

contact the engineer who provided the survey service and point out errors and inaccuracies in his work;
collect documentation that can confirm the existence of an error;
write an application with a request to correct the discrepancy and, with the documents attached to it, submit it to the cadastre chamber;
wait for a response after 15 days.

The question of how to challenge the land surveying of a neighbor’s land can only be resolved in one way. It is possible to challenge the boundaries of a site only if the result of the survey is invalid. Only interested persons can exercise the right to cancel such a document. First of all, these are the owners. Ownership of a plot can be confirmed by the following documents:

plot lease agreement;
agreement for receiving an allotment for unlimited use;
act of privatization;
certificate of perpetual inheritable ownership.

Attention! If there are compelling reasons and their documentary confirmation by the cadastral chamber, changes will be made to the current plan. This procedure for solving the problem will be considered administrative.

The trial goes through more stages. In addition, it should be remembered that if at the last moment, due to oral agreements with the owner of the disputed plot, you abandon your claims, then it will no longer be possible to go to court again on the same issue.

The court will also take into account the standards for the construction and location of neighbors' houses. Said proceedings will include the following:

drawing up a statement of claim;
supporting the application with the necessary documents confirming the plaintiff’s case;
payment of state fees;
notification of the defendant (carried out by a judicial authority);
consideration of the dispute during civil proceedings (it is possible to hold several hearings and postpone hearings at the request of the parties for additional collection of information or requests from the court);
making a decision on the case;
appealing the verdict (10 days will be allotted, after this period the verdict will be considered to have entered into legal force);
receiving the verdict in your hands.

Important! A court decision will make it possible to force changes in the boundary matter. To do this, you need to submit it to the cadastral chamber and write a corresponding application. Only by such a decision will neighbors be prohibited from entering private territory.

The following documents will serve as the evidence base for resolving the issue of errors in land surveying:

documents confirming the rights to the disputed plot (title);
a diagram showing the location of the disputed plot, as well as the areas bordering it;
consent of neighbors, documented in writing, or their refusal;
documents confirming attempts to peacefully resolve the issue (letters to neighbors, applications to the cadastral chamber);
publication in the media about land surveying or lack thereof.

The judicial authority for filing a claim will depend on the status of the parties involved in the dispute. If both participants are individuals, then the application must be submitted to a court of general jurisdiction. If there is a legal entity as a participant in the process - to the arbitration court.

Rosreestr compulsorily changes information only by court decision. The resolution should be submitted together with the boundary plan, which was considered correct in court. Cancellation of land surveying by a court decision is available only to the owner of the disputed plot, but also to his neighbors if they believe that their interests have been infringed. Registration of a neighboring abandoned plot is possible after contacting the local administration.

When a neighbor may not sign a land survey agreement

Let us examine in more detail whether it is always necessary to obtain the consent of neighbors when carrying out land surveying.

Depending on the situation and circumstances, the absence of a signature from the owner of an adjacent plot may be due to various reasons, including simply disagreement with the boundaries (that is, a neighbor came to the meeting, but does not want to sign) or the absence of a neighbor in the process of direct approval borders.

Error while defining boundaries

If in the process of carrying out calculations and subsequent placing the boundaries of the site on the ground, the cadastral engineer makes a mistake , it is quite possible that the passing boundary will not suit the neighbor, since it encroaches on part of his property.
In such situations, the owner of an adjacent plot has every right to refuse to sign and demand that inaccuracies be eliminated first, which can also be additionally reflected in the boundary plan.

Subsequently, if it turns out that there was in fact no error by the engineer, the owners of the site may have to resolve such an issue in court if they cannot come to a common opinion peacefully.

Long absence

A peculiarity of holding a meeting at which an agreement on establishing the boundaries of a land plot is signed is that information about this must be carried out within the period strictly specified by law - no later than 1 month before the meeting is held .

This provision was adopted so that plot owners could plan their time in advance to be personally present and sign as a sign of consent.

Despite this, in some cases, neighbors, even having received notification on time, do not have the opportunity to appear, since they are undergoing long-term treatment in a medical institution (sanatorium, etc.) or are in a remote place due to work issues related to the specifics of their work activity .

In such situations, the absence of such a person does not always become the reason for the impossibility of drawing up a boundary plan without his signature - in the absence of a statement of disagreement with the plan, the document drawn up may well have legal force .

The owner's heirs did not have time to enter into property rights

In some cases, situations may arise that at a certain point in time, when the boundaries of a plot are being determined, the adjacent land plot actually does not have an owner .
Such situations may occur if the direct owner of the plot has died and his potential heirs have not yet assumed their rights - 6 months have not elapsed from the date of death, or there is a property dispute.

In such a situation, since ownership has not been established, the heirs do not have the right to sign such an agreement .

How to win a land survey trial

For a positive outcome of the case, you need to study reviews and find a lawyer with experience in resolving land disputes. Lawyers of the Pravozem Academy of Sciences win complex cases and know how to increase the chances of a positive outcome of the case. Check out our practice. We carry out the following events:

We collect planning and cartographic information to justify the location of the site;
We take measurements of the site and determine its exact boundaries;
If errors or discrepancies are identified, we double-check the documentation for adjacent areas;
We prepare an up-to-date boundary plan in a short time;
We submit a request to appoint an examination and conduct it;
We represent the interests of the client.

At the time of writing, we had 3 interesting situations in our work. We managed to correct the error by filing a lawsuit against the administration, and restored the boundaries of the client’s property when the neighbor refused. They proved that one plot was mistakenly assigned 2 numbers and the ownership was registered.

We prepare statements of claim, carry out land surveying, surveying and land surveying to resolve legal disputes. We formulate a boundary plan to eliminate errors. We restore lost boundaries and mark out areas if neighbors have interfered.