How to find information on an abandoned land plot
To start searching for information on an abandoned site, use the electronic public cadastral map of the Russian Federation. To do this, just go to the official website of Rosreestr. With its help, you can track whether a previously abandoned area was formed.
Find your plot on the electronic map. This is quite easy to do. In the upper left corner of the page that opens, you must enter the cadastral number of your own land. You can find it in the main document or in the state certificate. registration.
After you have found your own plot, all that remains is to find and view the ownerless plot on the electronic map. The red contours that outline the area of land indicate that the land has been previously taken into account. And this already greatly simplifies the acquisition process. If it was not possible to see the outlines of an abandoned site, it means that it will still need to be formed from city or state land.
It is important to understand that at the legislative level, land plots are classified as real estate. Ownership will arise only after registration is made in the unified state real estate register. To implement this, you must provide a package of documents to Rosreestr.
Another point worth paying attention to is that the legislation of the Russian Federation does not recognize land as ownerless. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulates the fact that natural resources and lands that are not owned by citizens, municipalities and legal entities are recognized as state property.
Therefore, the first thing that needs to be done is to establish who owns the land plot of interest. Please note that lands that are the property of the municipality or the state are transferred to the ownership of citizens for a fee .
This happens through an auction (bidding).
Is it worth the risk?
An abandoned site is like cheese in a mousetrap. There are a lot of risks, and most often people decide to acquire such land as legal property if it is adjacent to their plot: the temptation to expand their holdings is always great. You can take a risk, and it will be worth it if you know for sure that no one else is laying claim to the land. It is necessary to obtain as much evidence of this fact as possible, otherwise troubles will certainly arise in the future.
On FORUMHOUSE you can read stories about how people took ownership of abandoned plots, read our article that explains everything about the intended purpose and types of permitted use of land plots, watch a video on how to optimize costs when building a house.
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Find the owner of an ownerless piece of land?
So, if you decide to buy an ownerless plot of land, first you need to find who owns it.
To do this, you need to contact Rosreestr and request an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
There are several ways to obtain this information:
- Contact the registration authority in person . Having arrived at the appropriate government agency, take a coupon to see a specialist. It is advisable to pay the state fee before communicating with an employee of the organization. Details are usually located on stands or at the consultant’s desk. Payment terminals are installed in the halls. The state duty is two hundred rubles, not including the Bank's commission. With the help of the employee, the application is filled out. Documents are provided after five working days.
- It is possible to request information through the Rosreestr website . Everything is very easy here. You need to select the “Electronic Services” section, where you can submit a request to receive information from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Then payment instructions will be sent to the specified email. After five days, a message will be sent by email. It will contain a link and a key intended for viewing and downloading the electronic document.
Appeal is possible through the Russian Post Office or by email to the same government agency. To do this, you must fill out the approved application form and pay the fee established by the state. The applicant’s signature must be certified by a notary when sending an application through the post office. When sending a request via email, you must have an electronic digital signature. The deadline for receiving information is the same five working days. This method is suitable for those who do not want to stand in lines and have sufficient knowledge to fill out the application correctly.
It will be necessary to obtain information from administrative authorities and architecture. You will have to spend money on topographic survey of the land.
By ordering a topography, you answer several questions at the same time:
- Firstly , if the land is state property or belongs to a municipality, then for constructive communication the representative of the state or municipal body must have an idea of what is located on the site. Topography helps to track all objects located on the ground. And this, in turn, guarantees that any section of the road or creek will not be allocated to private ownership.
- Secondly , the presence of this document is directly related to the formation of a site plan. It will be needed when allocating a plot of urban or state land.
- Thirdly , topography will help you make the final decision whether to purchase a plot of land. After all, there is a possibility that some communications pass through the area. Their presence may complicate or even make any construction on it impossible. And then it turns out that in this area, except to plant flowers or vegetables, nothing more can be done. So the results of a topographic survey may change your decision about purchasing land.
Methods of obtaining ownership rights to an abandoned land plot
We will assume that the plot of interest belongs to an individual:
- The first thing to do is find the owner. After this, you can agree on the sale and purchase with him or his heirs.
- Secondly , it is mandatory to record all agreements reached by signing a Preliminary Sale and Purchase Agreement. It spells out in detail the rights and obligations of both the seller and the buyer. This nuance will not allow the seller to make unilateral changes to the agreements reached. Consequently, he will no longer be able to change the price of the site or refuse any oral promises.
If the search turned up nothing. And it was not possible to find the owner or his heirs. There is a way to get the land you want. And he is completely legitimate. The legislation provides for such a concept as “acquisitive prescription”. This is one of the grounds for the emergence of property rights.
Relying on it, a citizen, without being the owner of the object, has the opportunity to obtain ownership of real estate if he owned it in good faith, continuously and openly, as his own for fifteen years. Based on the wording of the law, ownership in this case must be continuous.
The law does not establish specific circumstances under which the statute of limitations in relation to real estate may be suspended. It must be understood that a vindication claim cannot serve as a basis for suspending the term. Good faith possession implies that the person did not know, and should not have known, about the illegality of his possession .
An important factor is the openness of ownership. This means that a citizen who is a long-term owner should not hide the use and ownership of such property from the public.
In addition, ownership of the property must be carried out as if it were your own. It is understood that the owner by prescription must possess the property not by contract. Taking into account all of the above, recognition of a citizen’s right of ownership on the basis of acquisitive prescription is possible only if these factors are present.
Register a house after 15 years of ownership
The Civil Code calls the most extreme way to obtain ownership of a coveted abandoned property “acquisitive prescription” (Article 234). That is, the Civil Code allows any of us to openly occupy an abandoned house and live in it. The main thing here is that in 15 years the owner or his legal heirs should not be discovered, and if they are not discovered, then success, the house is yours. You can register ownership – but, as always, there are nuances.
- You must be a bona fide owner for all 15 years. Take care of the site, mow weeds, plant crops and carry out other landscaping work, pay for utilities, etc.
- You must be an open owner, not hide the fact that this is now your site, that’s why you are doing it.
- You must own the plot continuously for 15 years, and not like this: I own it for a year, give it up for five years, then change my mind, plant apple trees and install a swimming pool. No, only year after year, all 15 years.
A man lived in this house for 15 years and the house was his only home, can he confirm this with receipts for electricity payments, etc.? He has every chance to register the house as his own. But there is one more not very good circumstance: the three-year statute of limitations.
These three years must be added to the 15 years of open ownership and then only go to court. In reality, you will have to wait not 15, but 18 years.
The court will recognize the ownership right of the actual owner of an ownerless house, and it will be possible to register it with Rosreestr, sell it, give it as a gift, and leave it as an inheritance. But at any moment during these 18 years, the legal owner of the house may appear, and the law will definitely be on his side - he will have to give him the land and the house into which so much effort has been invested!
