How to combat squatting of public land? | Countryside

What is considered land squatting?

Squatting, or unauthorized occupation of land, is the appropriation of a plot of territory by a person who does not have legal grounds for this, that is, he does not have any title documents for this land (sale and purchase agreement, donation, privatization, certificate of inheritance and etc.).

According to Rosreestr, unauthorized seizure of a site is considered to be its illegal development or permanent or temporary storage of materials on its territory.

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A common example of squatting is using the land in front of a house as a front garden. Residents of private houses can fence off a small strip of land and grow flowers, shrubs and trees on it, although this area is not within the boundaries of their property. Some people commit this violation out of ignorance, and others consciously.

People can also appropriate a plot of someone else's land and erect any buildings on it for personal purposes. It happens that such buildings or fences installed in public areas narrow the passage to neighbors’ plots and violate their right to unhindered vehicle access to their home.

Capture of local area

People illegally entered my aunt's land and started building a house. The plot consists of a house and surrounding area of 29 acres. The house and territory are owned by my aunt. Geographically - in a village located in the region. Karelia, near Petrozavodsk. The plot is very attractive, in a quiet village, on the banks of the river.

From history: this house and territory were inherited by my aunt from her parents (by whom this property was provided by the collective farm). Those. my aunt was born there and lived there all her life. In 1999, my aunt privatized the house and land. Let me clarify that the land surveying procedure was not carried out specifically or separately. She has the property documents in hand, but there is no specific site plan. Although, while going through the documents, she found a list of documents that she had to submit during privatization, and the plan was on the list. Those. Without it, privatization could have been carried out (in principle)? The site is bordered on one side by a river, on the other side by a road, and on the sides by neighbors (i.e. other sites). Aunt regularly pays land tax every year.

Auntie usually spends her holidays and weekends in the house and tends to her garden. It rarely happens in cold weather (there is an apartment in Petrozavodsk). A week ago, my aunt’s neighbors called and said that some suspicious construction work was underway on her property. Aunt rushed to find out what was wrong. The man, allegedly the owner of part of his aunt’s house adjacent to the road (not very polite, with arrogance), was yelling, waving his hands and documents. The documents allegedly indicate that the City Hall allocated this land to him in 2010, that he carried out land surveying here, and that he is the owner of this piece of land (located on my aunt’s plot). He argued that, according to the City Hall, this site was “free” and did not belong to anyone, and that everything was legal. When the aunt contacted him again, he was already with a (supposedly) lawyer. It was a woman who was also screaming and waving her arms and documents. The very behavior of this man indicates that he is simply psychologically trying to suppress my aunt. He waited until the gardening season ended, when my aunt left for the city, and began work to seize the territory. Apparently he didn’t expect that the neighbors were attentive and efficient.

Auntie is at a loss... She contacted the village administration. There she was told (showed) that there was a plan for her site, that it had not been changed, and was the same as it was 50 years ago. BUT the administration immediately made a request to the City Hall (I don’t know what the correct administrative division is there), a plan came from the City Hall by fax, where on the aunt’s plot there is a rectangle circled in red - exactly that part of the plot on which the house is being built illegally. Auntie is shocked! She runs around the administration offices, but no one can really explain to her how this can happen, they just send her in a vicious circle...

My aunt requested a site plan from City Hall. They promised to provide it the other day.

Please tell me how you can defend your rights in this situation? After all, all the actions of this man and the administration indicate the illegality of the land deal. They all behave boorishly, counting on the fact that an elderly lonely woman simply cannot resist their onslaught.

Is this an illegal invasion of private property? Land grab? Illegal land transactions, and documents that contradict previously issued documents?

Where should she go? To the police, prosecutor's office, to court? How to prove that her site occupies a certain limited territory, and that the actions of the City Hall and this man are illegal?

I myself am in St. Petersburg.

Please respond with links to regulatory documents! So that I can help my aunt draw up written appeals to various authorities.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

What fine can be imposed?

The fine for land squatting is provided for in Art. 7.1 Code of Administrative Offences. If the cadastral value of a land plot is determined, its size is:

for ordinary citizens - 1-1.5% of the cadastral value of the land plot, but not less than 5 thousand rubles;
for officials - 1.5-2% of the cadastral value of the site, but not less than 20 thousand rubles;
for legal entities - 2-3% of the cadastral value of the site, but not less than 100 thousand rubles.

If the cadastral value of the plot is not determined, the amount of the fine is as follows:

for ordinary citizens – 5-10 thousand rubles;
for officials – 20-50 thousand rubles;
for legal entities – 100-200 thousand rubles.

In addition, the court may recognize that the appropriation and use of the site was associated with other offenses, including criminal ones. For example, fraud or arbitrariness. In these cases, the offender faces a more severe punishment, including imprisonment.

If buildings were erected on the seized land, the violator will be obliged to demolish them and restore the territory to its original condition.

In order to protect yourself from the unlawful actions of your neighbor, you must be the legal owner of the land plot whose boundaries he has violated. To do this, your rights to the plot must be registered in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN) or confirmed by title documents (for previously arisen rights).

It is also possible that your rights are previously acquired, i.e. you received ownership or use of the plot before the Federal Law of July 21, 1997 No. 122-FZ “On state registration of rights to real estate and transactions with it” came into force and you have a document confirming this fact. In this case, you can submit an application to the territorial body of Rosreestr or the municipal land control body. You must apply in the region where your land plot is located. At the same time, for simultaneous cadastral registration and registration of rights, it is enough to submit one application. Documents for these procedures can be sent to Rosreestr electronically by filling out special forms on the Rosreestr website, or submitted in person to the MFC offices. In addition, before complaining about your neighbor, you need to find out whether the boundaries (land surveying) of your and your neighbor’s land plots have been established according to the rules provided by law: whether the coordinates of characteristic points of the land plot boundaries have been determined. If the boundaries of your plot are not established, you need to contact a cadastral engineer. — How to contact the territorial body of Rosreestr in case of unauthorized seizure of your territory by a neighbor? You can contact the territorial body of Rosreestr in writing, electronically or in person. In the application, you must indicate the address and cadastral number of the land plot and information about the relocation of the fence or the fact of squatting of part of the territory belonging to you. The statement must also indicate that such actions led to a violation of your property rights. — What liability is provided for illegal occupation of a land plot? Based on your application, state inspectors for the use and protection of land will carry out verification activities and, if a violation is confirmed, will issue an order to the violator to eliminate it, and will also draw up a protocol on the administrative violation. For unauthorized occupation of a land plot, administrative liability is provided in the form of a fine. For citizens, such a fine is charged in the amount of 1 to 1.5 percent of the cadastral value of the occupied part of the land plot, but not less than 5 thousand rubles. If the cadastral value of the site is not determined, the amount of the administrative fine will be from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles. — If the neighbor does not respond to the instructions of land inspection inspectors? The order is issued for a period of 6 months, but this period can be extended if the violator takes measures to eliminate the violation, and he can document this. After the expiration of the period established in the order, inspectors check whether the unauthorized occupation of the land plot has been eliminated or not. If the violator does not take any measures, another order will be issued and a protocol of administrative violation will be drawn up. — Why is it recommended to register land plots and carry out land surveying? In accordance with the law, cadastral registration and registration of rights are of a declarative nature. This means that the law does not oblige citizens to register real estate properties they own, and these procedures can only be carried out at the request of their owners. At the same time, if you are the owner of a land plot and want to dispose of it (for example, sell, donate or inherit), you need to register the land in the cadastral register and register ownership rights to it. Therefore, Rosreestr recommends that citizens register plots in accordance with the law. Rosreestr also recommends that copyright holders of plots that do not have precise boundaries consider carrying out cadastral work (land surveying). Entering information about borders into the Unified State Register will save you from problems due to possible disputes, including with neighbors and with public authorities.

Where to complain?

You can complain about the squatting of public land to Rosreestr. To do this, you need to submit an application, which will become the basis for inspection of the site. The investigation is being conducted by federal state inspectors specializing in the use and protection of land plots.

If a neighbor is illegally using a public area and this violates your rights, you can also contact the prosecutor's office. The application should ask you to check the legality of changing the boundaries and area of the neighbor’s land, hold him accountable and oblige the administration of the locality to issue an order to demolish the unauthorized building.

If a neighbor has taken over a section of the street and does not allow other residents to pass through it, causes them property damage or threatens them with anything, you can file a statement with the police.

In addition, disputes with neighbors can be resolved in court.

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Where to complain about the seizure of territory

If the residents of the house are unhappy that a certain person has fenced off the area next to the house in order to constantly park his car on it, then they can file complaints with different authorities:

Initially, you need to try to solve the problem peacefully, for which you can ask the car owner to remove the barriers, and it is also recommended to warn him that if this is not done, complaints will be sent to various government agencies;
contacting a public point that specializes in maintaining order in a particular region, and it is called OPOP, and the employees of this institution, upon the application of residents, must record the violation and write down the car number, and then use special equipment to remove the barriers;
filing a complaint with the Internal Affairs Directorate is considered an effective method of influencing the offender;
if the above methods do not bring the desired result, then an application is made to the housing department, and the employees of this institution must remove the structures that violate the law, and the application is considered within one month;
drawing up an appeal to the local administration, a decision on which is made within a month, after which all fences from the territory will certainly be removed;
it is possible to contact a special commission that prevents various types of illegal activities related to parking, but such organizations are located only in large cities;
appeal to the media, which will attract the public to this problem;
drawing up an application to the State IP authorities.

Thus, if an illegal occupation of a certain part of the territory located next to a high-rise building is detected, residents can use various methods to attract the attention of specialized services. In most cases, barriers are removed within one month.

Ways to file a complaint

To file a complaint with any of the above organizations, a written statement must be drawn up. A sample complaint about illegal parking in the courtyard of a multi-storey building can be downloaded below for free.

Illegal parking in the courtyards of houses, what to do.

It must contain the following information:

the name, address and contact details of the applicant;
date when the appeal is made;
information about violations;
applicant's signature.

Sample complaint about illegal parking in the courtyard of a multi-storey building.

Important! To promptly consider the application and increase the likelihood of a positive resolution of the issue, it is necessary to attach evidence to this document, and it is advisable to take photographs of violations for this purpose.

How can you combat the squatting of parking spaces? Where to complain? Answers in this video:

Filing a complaint can be done in different ways:

when visiting the selected institution in person, and in such a situation it is advisable to have two copies on hand, one of which is given to the employee of the organization, and on the other he must put a stamp and signature, as well as the date of acceptance of the application;
sending documents by mail, and for this you need to use the attachment list, as well as use registered mail;
if it is not possible to use the two above methods, then you can invite an authorized person who, on behalf of the applicant, will submit the application to the institution, but for this he must have a notarized power of attorney.

Important! The likelihood of a positive resolution of the issue increases in a situation where several residents of the house are involved in drawing up an application at once, so a collective appeal is formed, signed by several citizens at once.

How long does it take to process an application?

All requests to the above organizations are considered within 30 days from the moment the transfer of documents was registered.

The applicant must receive a written response.

Important! This period may be extended by different organizations for another month if any specific factors need to be identified.

If a positive decision is made on the complaint, then various fences are removed from the territory, and the violator is also required to pay a fine for violations.

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It is he who must eliminate the installed elements, and if he does not comply with this instruction, then this threatens him with additional fines.