A citizen entered into a lease of land with the administration of Krasnoyarsk in order to build a fast-food cafe. The cafe was later commissioned, put on the cadastral register and registered as the citizen's property. The citizen, as the owner of the building on the plot, then bought the land from the administration for 15% of its cadastral value, and after that demolished the cafe.
• The prosecutor's office of Krasnoyarsk brought a claim to have the sale of the plot declared invalid, on the ground that the building was not a capital structure and that the area of the plot was not proportionate to the area required to operate the cafe. Three instances supported the prosecutor's office. The Supreme Court, however, accepted the citizen's appeal and pointed out numerous errors by the lower courts.
The main errors of the lower courts:
1. An entry in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN) about a property confirms that the property exists, and is treated as reliable until the contrary is proved. The prosecutor's office and the courts ought to have ordered an expert examination to determine whether the building was a capital structure. The courts refused the citizen's request for an expert examination.
2. The courts held that the area of the plot was excessive for a cafe. They did not take into account a zone with special conditions for the use of the territory (ZOUIT), which occupied half the area of the plot, and they did not order an expert examination.
3. The court terminated the citizen's ownership of the plot, but did not return the purchase price and did not restore the lease.
This decision shows a tendency of the courts to protect the interests of the authorities, and it underlines how important it is, when entering into a transaction with real estate, to analyse carefully the likelihood of a future dispute about whether the transaction was lawful.
Follow Consul Group on Telegram.
.jpg)
Analytics
Events