The right to land ownership is especially effectively protected by the state. Administrative liability for land offenses in the form of fines and arrests is established. This article will examine some of the provisions of the Administrative and Land Codes.
About the concept of administrative responsibility
Administrative liability for land offenses is expressed in many types and forms. Everything here depends on the object of the attack and the severity of the violation of the law. What is generally an administrative responsibility? Legal experts talk about one form of state coercion. The presented institution is of rather great importance for the rights and freedoms of the individual, state and society.
How can land offenses be identified? The Russian Land Code speaks of illegal actions in the use and protection of land. Land protection refers to the protection of soils from mudflows, erosion, waterlogging, pollution, etc. Irrational use of land or the complete absence of their protection just leads to administrative responsibility for land offenses.
On violation of land legislation
Administrative liability for violation of the Land Code is established by the Russian authorities as a kind of measure that is used to prevent various violations of the law in the field in question. If you look at the provisions of the Land Code, it becomes clear for which groups of misconduct administrative responsibility may come. Here are some highlights:
- encroachment on a site that is a natural or economic object;
- violation of the requirements or rules in accordance with which the plots should be used;
- violation of civil matters relating to land;
- gross violations of the procedure for working with plots and land management - in the form of untimely consideration of applications or their complete failure to consider, violations of the procedure for registering plots, misuse of land, etc.
Quite often, administrative responsibility for land offenses lies not with specific citizens, but with entire legal entities. But in this case, the employees of the accused organization should not relax: they can also be sanctioned, but already disciplinary.
About participants and objects of land legal relations
Before proceeding to a detailed analysis of specific offenses for which sanctions are regulated by the Administrative Code, it is worth paying attention to the subjects and objects of relations in this area. According to Article 5 of the Russian Land Code (LC RF), participants in legal relations are both Russian citizens themselves and legal entities - including the regions of the Russian Federation and various municipalities. Here's who you can call a subject:
- land users - persons owning land on the basis of permanent or gratuitous use;
- land owners - persons whose property includes land plots;
- landowners - persons inheriting land holdings;
- easement holders - persons having the right of limited use of a particular land territory.
It is also worth highlighting the tenants and owners of land, which are also subjects of relations in this area. Objects, however difficult to guess, are the land itself or parts thereof.
On the rights and obligations of land owners
It is also necessary to pay attention to the legal duties and powers of the subjects of land legal relations. Here is what the land owner has the right to:
- the construction of industrial, residential, cultural or other facilities on its territory;
- use of land for own needs in the manner prescribed by law;
- legal implementation of irrigation, land reclamation, drainage and other works with land;
- implementation of crops and planting of various plant crops.
And what responsibilities does the land owner have? Here it is worth paying attention to article 42 of the RF Labor Code, which gives instructions:
- on the implementation of timely payments for the use of land;
- on the implementation of measures for the protection of land;
- on the use of land in strict accordance with established goals;
- to protect the land from degradation, depletion, deterioration, pollution, etc.
Failure to comply with the duties presented will entail the establishment of administrative liability for land offenses.
Types of sanctions for land offenses
What liability is provided by law for violations of law related to land relations? There are only two types of punishments: a fine and a warning. According to many experts, there is no arrest due to its inefficiency in this area.
Warning is a minimal sanction. In fact, the official simply informs the perpetrator of non-compliance with the law. A request is made to end the violation of the norms in force in Russia. The fine is a much more stringent and serious measure. By the decision of the court (justice of the peace or district authority), the guilty person is charged with a certain monetary penalty.
About breaking borders
To begin with, it is worth paying attention to article 74 of the Russian Land Code, which governs the establishment of sanctions for both administrative and criminal and disciplinary offenses. According to Article 2.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a violation of an administrative right refers to a guilty and unlawful act or inaction, for which sanctions must be imposed on the relevant entities. The considered type of responsibility is able to bear a person who has reached 16 years of age.
Most of the offenses in the field of land ownership are enshrined in Chapter 7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. So, it is worth paying attention to article 7.1, which refers to the unauthorized occupation of land and the use of this territory without registration of relevant documents. Such an offense even has an official name - “violation of boundary lines”. At the same time, a person can break the law both intentionally and completely by accident. According to article 7.2, for violation of boundary lines a citizen is fined or warned.
Illegal use of land funds
Article 7.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation establishes liability for the unauthorized use or occupation of a particular land territory, including the strip of a water body, sanitary protection zone or water protection area. It is not difficult to guess, such an offense is far more serious than a simple violation of boundary lines. Article 7.9 fixes a similar violation, but already related to the occupation of the forest fund or forest plot. If here there was a uprooting of trees, the construction of large buildings or inconsistent processing of wood, then the matter could even reach criminal sanctions.At the same time, for not very serious violations of the borders of forest or water funds, administrative responsibility for land offenses will be relatively easy, expressed in the form of fines.
Violations in the field of nature protection
If in chapter 7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation it was a question of violating borders and illegal use of certain land territories, then chapter 8 describes administrative responsibility for land and environmental offenses.
Article 8.6 refers to land damage. Destruction of the land, unauthorized removal of the soil layer, chemical poisoning of the earth with pesticides or agrochemicals, the fight against fertility in one or another territory - all this can be attributed to damage to land. The presented offense directly harms the environment, and therefore the punishment here will follow much more severe than for simple border violations. We are talking about fines as well as obligations to implement restoration work in the "exhausted" areas.
In article 8.8, a similar offense is regulated in water areas, and in articles 8.12 and 8.30 in forests and forest funds. Chapter 10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation deals with bringing to administrative responsibility for land offenses in the field of agriculture, namely for improper and harmful land reclamation or veterinary medicine.
Transport Disorders
It is also necessary to pay attention to Chapter 11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which refers to the administrative responsibility applicable for committing unlawful acts on vehicles. This, for example, harmful grazing, grass mowing, plowing the land, damage or complete cutting of plantations, dumping of garbage in the wrong places, excavation or removal of the turf layer, the discharge of industrial, sewer, sewage or reclamation waters into the rivers that are being cleaned or other uncoordinated places, installation of advertisements or signs without obtaining the appropriate permission, laying communications in the wrong areas and much more.
It should be noted that most land and environmental offenses are committed on vehicles. That is why the administrative and disciplinary liability for land offenses of this kind is presented in a separate chapter.
Violation of the procedure for establishing land relations
Chapter 19 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation describes administrative responsibility for violations in the field of untimely submission of applications, execution of various documents, papers, etc. Here you can also find a link to land offenses. So, article 19.9 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation refers to violation of the terms for consideration of applications in which there is a request for the provision of a land territory or a set of land plots. Here, an administrative fine is provided as a punishment for administrative land offenses.
You can also highlight article 19.21, which refers to non-compliance with the established procedure for state registration of rights to real estate.
Criminal liability
Administrative liability applies for the commission of unlawful acts of a relatively "light" nature. If we are talking about criminal law, then it is worth recalling the concept of crime - an extremely gross violation of the law.
In the field of land law, there are many crimes. All of them are recorded in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Damage to the land (Article 254), lack of protection of the site, pollution - one might think that all the same norms are fixed here as in the Code of Administrative Offenses. However, the concept of aggravating circumstances is present in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. So, if a specific violation of the law entailed an emergency or a whole environmental disaster, then sanctions on the guilty person will be imposed in accordance with criminal law.