How to purchase a land plot for individual housing construction

Recommendation points

• Land categories and their intended purpose
• Land for residential construction: methods of acquisition
• Buying a land plot for construction in the secondary market
• Conclusion of a land sale agreement
• State registration of the transfer of ownership of a land plot under a sale and purchase agreement
• Purchase of a land plot for construction from state-owned land

Before proceeding to the description of the procedure for acquiring a plot of land for individual housing construction, it is worthwhile to figure out which lands are suitable for building. This issue is especially relevant before the purchase of land on the secondary market, that is, from individuals, since when meeting a not too honest realtor and a buyer who is not very versed in land legislation, it is possible to purchase such plots, the development of which will entail a number of collisions.

The following real case can serve as a living example: in order to build a bigger country house, a certain citizen acquired two neighboring land plots. The plans of the newly-made owner included further unification of the plots, but after the first visit to the local administration, it turned out that the unification was not destined to take place. The fact is that only one of them had an appropriate purpose for construction, and the other was intended for agricultural use (the direct purpose was truck farming). It is almost impossible to change the purpose of such a site. As a result, the owner was unable to build a house of the desired size, and he did not need agricultural land at all. It is very problematic to prove that the sale and purchase agreement in this case was concluded by fraud, and in any case, the trial will take, to put it mildly, a lot of time. In order to avoid such cases, you need to navigate the categories of land and their intended purpose, and also do not forget to carefully study the cadastral passports of the plots being purchased.

Land categories and their intended purpose

Article 7 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation defines seven categories of land: agricultural land; lands of settlements; land for industry, energy, transport and other purposes incompatible with individual housing construction; lands of specially protected areas and objects; forest land; water fund; reserve lands.

However, the legal regime for the use of this or that site is determined not only by the category to which it belongs, but also by the immediate purpose. There are a lot of such appointments, therefore we will focus on those that allow the construction of a house.

Land plots for individual housing construction – here the purpose speaks for itself. Such land plots are classified as settlement land.

A house can also be built on land with a different purpose – on summer cottages or garden plots that belong to the category of agricultural land, however, it is impossible to register in a house built on a summer cottage, since de jure such a house is not intended for permanent residence, but on In addition, you must grow fruit trees and / or berry bushes (the order of planning and building garden plots is determined by SNiP 30-02-97 “Planning and development of territories of gardening associations”).

Having dealt with the categories of land and their purpose, we will move on to a more difficult stage – the acquisition of ownership or lease of a land plot for the construction of a residential building.

Land for residential construction: methods of acquisition

There are two ways of acquiring a plot of land intended for construction: buying such a plot on the secondary market, that is, from individuals, or acquiring it from the property of the state or municipalities (buyout). You can get land for free, but such an opportunity is provided only for Heroes of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, full holders of the Order of Glory, Heroes of Socialist Labor, holders of the Order of Labor Glory of three degrees. Unfortunately, not everyone has such services to the Motherland, and therefore the majority have to resort to buying land either from private individuals or from the state..

There are two ways to purchase a land plot from the state land fund: without prior agreement on the location of objects and vice versa – with preliminary agreement on the location of objects. However, for housing construction, only the acquisition procedure is provided without prior agreement on the location of the object. Therefore, in the case of the construction of an individual residential building, only the first method of privatizing state land is relevant..

In general, the various opportunities for acquiring land plots on which a house will be built in the future can be expressed as follows:

Purchase a land plot for individual housing construction:

• Buy on the secondary market.
• Purchase from municipal and state lands. property without prior agreement on the location of objects (buy at auction).
• Get it for free (only certain categories of the population).

Buying a land plot for construction in the secondary market

The acquisition of a land plot from private owners is procedurally much easier and faster than the purchase of land from state or municipal property, however, in this case, you need to be prepared for a higher level of competition and, accordingly, a higher cost of the plot.

Conclusion of a land sale agreement

To purchase a land plot for the construction of a private house, it is necessary to conclude an agreement on the sale of a land plot with the person to whom this plot belongs (the seller of the plot), adhering to the requirements set forth in the seventh paragraph of Chapter 30 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 549-552, 554-557 ). The contract is concluded in writing with the obligatory statement of the following conditions:

• subject of the contract (you must specify the data that allow you to definitely establish the land plot to be sold: location of the land plot, land category, its purpose, total area)
• contract price set by agreement of the parties.

In order for the ownership of land to pass from the former owner to you, this transfer must be registered in the procedure of compulsory state registration. Therefore, after all the details of the land purchase and sale agreement have been agreed upon and this agreement has been signed, it is necessary to proceed to the second stage..

State registration of the transfer of ownership of a land plot under a sale and purchase agreement

The procedure for state registration is regulated by the Federal Law “On State Registration of Rights to Real Estate and Transactions with It.” The procedure for registering the transfer of rights is also explained in detail in the Methodological Recommendations approved by the Ministry of Justice on the procedure for conducting state registration of rights to real estate and transactions with it.

The transfer of rights is registered (note, not an agreement, namely the transfer of rights) in the institution of justice for registration of rights to real estate and transactions with it. You need to contact the authority for the location of the land plot to which you obtain ownership. To register the transfer of ownership, documents are submitted to the appropriate registration authority by both the buyer and the seller..

Below is the list of required documents:

• registration application;
• receipt of registration payment;
• documents certifying the person and confirming your authority as a buyer;
• land sale agreement;
• land cadastral plan.

The fact of acceptance of documents must be registered in the accounting book, and you must be given a receipt for obtaining title documents for state registration. This receipt must contain all the documents that you submitted for registration.

After submitting an application with a package of documents, the institution of justice considers it within a month and makes a decision on registration. This procedure includes:

• legal expertise and confirmation of the legality of the sale and purchase agreement;
• the establishment of the absence of encumbrances and the rights of third parties to the land plot, which is the subject of the agreement, as well as the establishment of the absence of other factors that may entail the invalidity of the transaction;
• making entries on state registration of ownership of a specific land plot in the Single State Register of Rights to Real Estate and Transactions with It.

After that, the registration authority makes inscriptions on the documents of title and issues a Certificate of state registration of ownership of the land plot. It is this certificate that confirms the state recognition of your ownership of a specific land plot.

Purchase of a land plot for construction from state-owned land

Individuals (individuals and legal entities) can obtain ownership of state-owned land (which in its essence is privatization) only for a fee. The possibilities of acquiring land plots free of charge by individual categories of citizens are indicated above. The Land Code excludes the possibility of an unmotivated refusal to provide land plots to citizens and legal entities. An exhaustive list of reasons for refusal is also indicated in this regulation. These reasons are:

• withdrawal of a site from circulation;
• a ban on the privatization of land. Such a prohibition may be established by federal law;
• land reservation for the needs of the state or local government.

As already mentioned above, for housing construction, land plots are subject to redemption without previous approval, therefore, attention must be focused on precisely this mechanism for obtaining ownership or lease rights to land. Land plots for construction without prior approval of the location of objects can be transferred to ownership or long-term lease to individuals only through bidding in the form of auctions. An exception is the receipt of a land plot in ownership or lease within the boundaries of a built-up area by a person with whom an agreement on the development of a built-up area has been concluded..

That is, in most cases, it is possible to purchase a land plot for construction from state-owned land exclusively at auction. However, before the desired plot is put up for auction, a number of other actions should be taken as defined by the Land Code of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law “On the State Real Estate Cadastre.” Local governments or local executive authorities who have the land of interest to you plot, provide the following procedure for the provision of a land plot:

• formation of a land plot in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Law “On the State Real Estate Cadastre”;
• determination of the permitted use of the site (in this case – for individual housing construction);
• formation of technical conditions for connecting to engineering communications in accordance with the Rules for determining and providing technical conditions for connecting a capital construction object to the networks of engineering and technical support;
• holding tenders after making a relevant decision, publishing in the media about holding a tender or auction and receiving relevant applications from other persons.

This is the action plan of the owner of the land, that is, the self-government body (if the land plot is located within the boundaries of the settlement) or the executive authority (if the plot does not belong to the category of land of settlements) when providing plots to individuals. However, do not hope that the whole procedure will be carried out by officials, and you will only need to wait for the auction. To acquire a land plot from municipal or state property, you must:

1. Apply with an application for the provision of a land plot intended for individual housing construction to local authorities (self-government or executive authorities).
2. Order a copy, on which a topographic plan of the land plot you are interested in should be presented.
3. Find out if there are any encumbrances regarding the site you are interested in (legal rights of third parties, for example, easements, etc.). To do this, it is also necessary to submit an application and attach to it a copy of the land plot plan, on which, in the absence of encumbrances, an appropriate stamp will be affixed.
4. A similar procedure is provided to find out if there are any construction bans on a specific land plot (“red lines”, for example, a pipeline running through the plot).
5. All received documents, together with an application for the provision of a plot intended for individual housing construction, for ownership or lease, are submitted for final consideration and decision making to local self-government or executive authorities.

After you have completed all of the above steps, local authorities will accept decision to conduct an auctionand post information about its holding in the media. The subject of the auction is, depending on your declared right, either the ownership or lease rights to the land plot under the individual housing construction. The nominal value of the land plot is determined according to the land registry data, therefore this value is significantly lower than the market value. If, within a month after the official publication of the auction, no one has submitted an application for participation in it, you have the right to buy out the site at its nominal value. Of course, in most cases, there are those who want to purchase a land plot, and therefore the initiator of the auction must withstand competition, often quite tough, from other bidders.

Auction Results Protocol, handed out to you, is the basis for concluding a contract for the sale and purchase of a land plot for housing construction or concluding a lease agreement regarding this plot and subsequent state registration of the received rights to land.

In most cases, after the auction is held, a three-year lease agreement is placed with the winner. During this period, the person who received the land plot for use is obliged to build it up in accordance with the intended purpose. If this condition is met, the site is finally transferred to private ownership.