What is a land exchange agreement, how to write and register it?

The essence of the exchange of things between persons is obvious and is determined by the very actions of the parties to such an agreement. A land exchange agreement is no exception. It involves the transfer of ownership of a plot of land to another person in exchange for receiving another plot of land or some property. The legislator does not prohibit such relations, since the owner of the land has the right to dispose of the owned plot of his own free will, if this does not violate existing legal norms, as well as the rights and interests of other persons.

Concept

A land exchange agreement is a document fixing the rights and desire of the two parties to exchange plots of land. Based on paragraph No. 3, Article No. 3 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, such an exchange agreement is regulated by Civil Legislation .

This implies that the contract for the exchange of land will be drawn up based on:

• to the rules from articles No. 454 - No. 491, as well as No. 549 - No. 557 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation;
• to Article No. 37 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation “Features of the purchase and sale of land plots.”

Underwater rocks

When concluding an agreement for the exchange of real estate, each party must pay attention to the following information:

1. Information must be entered about:
   the size of the plot and its location;
2. list of lands, purpose of exploitation;
3. price.
4. The objects of sale and exchange are plots registered in the cadastral register.
5. The document being drawn up must contain the following information, based on the requirements of paragraph 2 of Article No. 8 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation and paragraph 1 of Article No. 18 of the Law on State Registration of Rights:
   location of the site;
6. cadastral number;
7. category of land and permission for its exploitation.
8. The land resource should not be encumbered.
9. The site should not be in the status of an easement.
10. The land plot should not be pledged to a banking institution.

Transaction forms

In relation to the exchange of plots in the Russian Federation, the following forms of transaction are accepted:

• a simple form in writing, when the parties to the agreement must only certify it with signatures and then submit it to the Rosreestr authorities for state registration;
• a notarial form, in which certification of this agreement is not required, but in many cases it is still prescribed by a regulatory act.

Registration procedure

When drawing up an agreement to exchange a land plot, relations between the parties to the transaction are regulated by the Land and Civil Code.

Attention! The subjects of such relations can only be those persons to whom the ownership right is registered.

The algorithm for drawing up a land exchange agreement can be divided into several stages : collecting documents and drawing up an exchange agreement for a land plot.

The agreement must be drawn up:

• in accordance with Article No. 550 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation;
• the structure of writing is regulated by the Letter of Roskomzem dated October 19, 1994, No. 2-16/1629;
• after the site has been assessed and a certificate of the assigned cadastral value has been provided.

List of all required documents

List of required documents for exchanging a land plot:

1. copies of personal documents: passports, tax identification numbers of the parties to the transaction;
2. documents for the land plot;
3. certificates confirming the absence of encumbrances or restrictions on the land;
4. an act of establishing a standard price for exchanged plots, issued by authorized land management bodies;
5. summary statements of valuation of buildings located on the exchanged plot of land;
6. cadastral passports;
7. barter agreement.

Contents of the agreement

The following must be included in it:

• name and date of conclusion of the contract in words;
• place of conclusion of the document;
• personal data of the two parties: Full name the participant in the transaction in full, date of birth, passport details and which authority issued the document, place of registration and actual address of residence;
• subject of the agreement;
• encumbrances of the exchanged plots;
• restrictions on the use of exchanged plots;
• rights and obligations of the parties;
• responsibility of participants;
• final provisions;
• addresses, bank details of areas of contractual relations;
• endorsement of the document with signatures; annexes to the agreement;
• receipts confirming payment of the state fee for registering the exchange agreement and for issuing a certificate certifying the right to property.

Important points that transaction participants should pay attention to are:

1. A clause on restrictions or encumbrances on the areas selected for exchange;
   if a restriction is imposed on the site by a public easement, then the owner must provide a regulatory legal act that fixes the reason and duration of the restriction;
2. if a plot is restricted by a private easement, the owner must provide an agreement of adjacent landowners and a court decision.
3. The clause defining the subjects of the agreement and their parameters.
4. The point is the responsibility of the parties if the plots are not equal in price.
5. Paragraph final provisions.
6. The party(ies) bearing additional costs associated with the execution and registration of the transaction.

Mandatory land assessment

If the owner of a land resource has decided to exchange a plot for new land, then he is obliged to conduct an assessment of the land resource in his ownership , in accordance with Article No. 66 “Land Assessment” of the Land Code of the Russian Federation.

A cadastral assessment will help determine:

1. the market value of the exchanged plot in accordance with Article No. 8 of the Federal Law “On Valuation Activities in the Russian Federation”;
2. the cost of land plots through state cadastral valuation.

Land property valuation can be carried out in three ways:

• through independent research of supply and demand for the land being sold;
• based on data on the cadastral value of the site;
• using the services of an independent appraiser.

The procedure for assessing land when concluding a contract includes the following steps:

1. the decision of the owner of land property to evaluate his property;
2. select an independent appraiser and enter into a cooperation agreement with him;
3. conducting an independent assessment of the land plot by an appraiser in order to determine the market value of the subject of exchange;
4. drawing up a final report on the work done;
5. signing certificates of completed work to assess the site;
6. delivery of the result to the owner of the site.

Do I need to contact a specialist?

There are two ways to draw up a document for exchanging land for land : independently and by using the services of a specialist.

Is it possible to exchange a plot for another property?

Only the owners can exchange property. If the plot or object for which the exchange is planned is at the disposal of several co-owners, the consent of each of them is required to carry out the transaction.

You can exchange both items of equal value and those that differ in value. In the latter case, the party that received a more expensive object is obliged to pay monetary compensation to the other party to the transaction.

Formally, the owner of the plot has the right to exchange it for any property of interest to him - residential premises, cottage, other territory, vehicle, etc.

In order for the agreement to be recognized as valid and the transfer of rights to be successfully registered in Rosreestr, it is important to correctly compose the text of the document and take into account all the nuances of the exchange.

What other objects of exchange could there be?

House

If there is a house on a plot of land, then when drawing up an agreement, the parties to the transaction are obliged to:

1. discuss what to do with registered persons in this area;
2. provide complete and detailed information about the building.

Because if minor citizens of the Russian Federation are registered in the house, then it is necessary to ensure that their interests are not infringed and that all permissions and consents are obtained from the guardianship authorities. In such a situation , the property will be transferred under a deed of transfer , which is attached to the agreement for the exchange of land for land.

Apartment

If the object of the contract is a plot and an apartment, then the exchange agreement must indicate the following information:

1. the exact address of the apartment;
2. its total cost;
3. a list of persons who will own the right to use the apartment after the transaction is completed.

If there are several owners at once, then the fact of transfer of the apartment must be agreed upon with all owners.

Attention! If one of the shares belongs to a minor child, before signing the land exchange agreement, permission from the guardianship authorities will need to be attached to the documents.

Movable property

To exchange land for land for movable property, you must submit an agreement to the State Traffic Inspectorate , where the car will be checked:

1. the presence of a wanted car;
2. for restriction (arrest);
3. for technical condition.

After the above procedures, the newly-minted owner receives a certificate of movable property on the day of submitting the contract.

Read about how to exchange land and other real estate for a car here.

When is notarization required?

Notarization is required in the following cases:

1. For transactions related to land owned by a minor or a citizen who is recognized as having limited legal capacity.
2. In the case of an exchange in the presence of common shared ownership of a land plot (including those cases when all parties dispose of their shares in one transaction).

No matter through what form the transaction is made, the exchange agreement (a sample will be presented below) must be registered by government authorities. If this requirement is not met, the document is considered invalid.

Registration procedure

To officially register an agreement for the exchange of land for land, the parties to the transaction must contact the Rosreestr service or the MFC. When registering a document, two parties must provide:

• application for the registration procedure;
• internal passports of citizens of the Russian Federation, or documents for legal entities;
• notarized power of attorney for a representative, if the party cannot personally represent his own interests;
• real estate exchange document and transfer deeds;
• title documents for ownership;
• certificate from the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
• cadastral documents;
• receipt for payment of state duty.

Registration of an exchange agreement for a share of a plot is possible only after notarization . To do this, the owner must:

1. obtain a boundary plan for part of the site by contacting a cadastral engineer;
2. send to other owners of the plot an information notice about the conclusion of an exchange agreement with an offer to sell the part on the preemptive right.

Important! If within a month a positive response was not received to the notification, but a refusal was sent, then the agreement is sent to the notary’s office for certification.

Only after receiving a certification mark from a notary, subsequent registration actions in Rosreestr regarding the exchange agreement will take place according to the general rules.

Tax features when changing land plots

Any contract whose purpose is to change ownership may have certain tax consequences. Thus, when making an exchange, it will be necessary to take into account not only the price at which the plots were valued by the parties, but also their cadastral value.

If the cadastral value of one plot exceeds the cadastral value of another, in fact one person will have a profit on which tax will be charged.

The legislator does not prohibit using the right to a tax deduction when concluding an exchange agreement. This will reduce potential costs.

Thus, Article 567 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation introduces a provision according to which the same requirements apply to an exchange agreement as to a purchase and sale agreement. Each party is actually recognized as a seller with all the ensuing consequences.

At the same time, the Tax Code, paragraphs. 1 clause 1 art. 220, establishes the right to a property tax deduction when determining the tax base.

That is, in this case, the obligation to pay tax can only arise from the person who received an object of greater value without additional payment on his part (the cadastral value is taken into account, since according to the text of the transaction, objects are recognized as equivalent at the market price).

Do not forget that if the property was owned for more than three years and was acquired before January 1, 2021, or more than 5 years if it was acquired later, then no tax is paid after any transaction.