The lands of Russia constitute its land fund, which consists of many land plots with borders more or less precisely defined on the ground. The use of each such plot is made in accordance with the specific legal regime that determines the purpose of the land plot.
Land designation as a principle of land law
This right is based on a number of principles, one of which states that land should be used in accordance with their purpose established by land law. Users are not allowed to change the target land assignment, without the consent of the state authorities. This purpose, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, is established both by federal legislation and the laws of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and is reflected in the land cadastre and the Unified State Register.
How does the purpose differ from the category of land
The first of these concepts implies that particular direction of their use, the functions that this type of land performs in various social relations. So, agricultural land is a means for the production of crop production and livestock, forest land is a vital substance for the existence of forest vegetation, etc.
Land plots having the common purpose of the land plot are combined into a set of such plots for the purpose of their classification and accounting, called the category of land. Thus, there is a certain difference between the concepts of “land category” and “purpose”: the first of them is an element of the legally established classification of lands, and the second is a sign on the basis of which it is conducted.
How are lands classified in the Russian Federation by their intended purpose
Legislators, creating the RF LC, identified the following possible types of intended use of land:
• agricultural production;
• location of settlements;
• placement of human economic activities:
- industrial;
- transport;
- energy;
- communication and television broadcasting facilities;
- defense objects and objects related to space activities;
- special purpose facilities;
• placement of objects and territories with special protection regime;
• placement of natural and artificial reservoirs;
• location of forests;
• stock of land.
Only seven types of land assignments were obtained, although a larger number could be chosen. For each type of purpose, the RF Land Code has assigned a certain category of land from 1st (agricultural land) to 7th (land in reserve).
The ratio between the areas of land categories of the Russian Federation
According to Rosreestr, the total land area of the Russian Federation as of 01.01.2015 amounted to 1709.8 million hectares. Most of the Russian lands are occupied by forests (category 6) - 65.3%, agricultural lands (category 1) are occupied by 23.0%, reserve lands (category 7) - 5.9%. Land under objects and territories with special protection regimes (category 4) is occupied by 2.0%, lands under water bodies (category 5) - 1.6%, lands under settlements (category 2) - 1.2%, lands under objects of economic activity person (category 3) is occupied by 1.0% of the total land area of the Russian Federation.
Classifier of the purpose of land
Directions for the intended use of land are determined by their categories. However, various types of such use are possible inside them, bearing the name types of permitted use (VRI). These types are determined by the classifier of land plots, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and entered into force on 12.24.2014.
It should be noted that often in various articles on the Internet, instead of the concept of “land plot land use”, its analogue is used - “types of land purpose”, which is officially used in the land legislation of Ukraine. Probably, such a discrepancy in terminology was caused in part by the fact that, although the RF Land Code repeatedly mentions “permitted use of a land plot”, it does not contain its normative definition. But after the release of the VRI classifier of land plots, the wording in its edition should be used.
Classification of land plots
All possible ARIs in the classifier are assigned to 12 conditional groups - from the 1st to the 12th, that is, their number exceeds the number of land categories in the RF RF. In addition to the VRI groups corresponding to the categories of agricultural land, forests, ponds, territories with special protection, reserve lands, there was a group of VRI No. 2 for plots for housing construction, VRI No. 3 for plots for capital construction, the purpose of which will be to satisfy various human needs, VRI No. 4 for plots for placement of capital construction facilities with a view to profit (banks, trading enterprises, etc.). A separate group of BPI (No. 6) was awarded plots for the placement of industrial facilities, as well as transport facilities (communications) - No. 7.
Each group contains from 18 (No. 1) to 4 (No. 12) different VRI with its digital codes consisting of two fields: VRI group number from 1 to 12, VRI code from 0 to 18.
Why do I need to change the purpose of the land
Holders of rights to land are required to use them in the direction that corresponds to their purpose. It is determined by the category of land and recorded in the cadastral passport of the site. Independently changing this appointment is prohibited. Violation of this requirement is recognized as an administrative offense and is punished according to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
However, economic and social feasibility can determine objective reasons in order to change the purpose of the land. This replacement must take place under a special legal procedure. The decision that such a change is possible (or impossible) will be made by various authorities, depending on its owner. If the ownership of the land is federal, then only the Government of the Russian Federation can change the purpose of the land plot. If the owner of the land is a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, then the state authority of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation will decide. The purpose of land belonging to municipal or private property is changed by local authorities. For agricultural land in all cases, except for lands belonging to federal property, the decision that their purpose changes is taken at the level of the subject of the Russian Federation.
Land Change Procedure
How to change the purpose of the land? The owner of the rights to the site interested in changing its purpose must file a petition about this with the state authority authorized to consider such a petition (art. Above).
Having considered it, the relevant state authority adopts an act amending the status of the site or refuses to do so in the following terms:
- in a period of not more than 3 months, unless otherwise provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation;
- in a period of not more than 2 months, if the application is considered by the subject of the Russian Federation or local authority.
The amendment act must contain:
- boundaries, area and cadastral number of the site;
- grounds for changing the purpose of land;
- final category of land land;
- the original category of land land.
The authorized body that adopted the act sends a copy of it within 5 days from the date of its adoption to the Rosreestr. The latter, having changed the purpose of the land on the basis of the act by entering new information into the cadastral passport of the land, notifies interested owners of the land about it and makes an appropriate entry in the Unified State Register of Real Estate Rights (USRP).
A new appointment shall be deemed to have entered into force on the date of amendments to it in the Unified State Register. Re-register any documents for the land after this is not necessary.
The contents of the application for changing the purpose of land
The application must contain:
- current category in the LC;
- cadastral number;
- the requested category for the LC;
- source of applicant rights to the site;
- what is the reason for the change.
The application is accompanied by:
- extract from the Unified State Register on the site;
- copies of personal documents of the applying individual, extract from the USRIP upon application from an individual entrepreneur or extract from the USRLE upon application from a legal entity;
- the conclusion of environmental state examination (if necessary);
- consent of the owner of the site with a change in its purpose, if the application is from the land user.
Purpose of land in Ukraine
ZK Ukraine classifies land on the basis of its main purpose for 9 categories, which partially (agricultural land, forests, reservoirs, objects of economic activity of a person) coincide with land categories according to the ZK RF. In separate categories, unlike the RF Land Code, lands for residential buildings and public facilities, as well as lands for recreational facilities, lands for recreation and lands for historical and cultural purposes are listed.
According to the Ukrainian State Service for Cartography, Geodesy and Cadastre, the total land area of the country is 60.4 million ha, of which agricultural land occupy 41.8 million ha, or 70%, and only 17% (10.4 million ha) - the woods.
About 90% of all agricultural land is divided, that is, the majority of rural residents have state certificates on land in their hands. Since Ukraine has a long-term moratorium on the sale of agricultural land, most of the plots are leased to large agricultural holdings.
The intended purpose of the land plot of Ukraine often changes with the allocation of promising plots for the commercial construction of cottage towns and retail facilities, especially in the vicinity of Kiev and large regional centers.
How is the land classification system in Ukraine built?
Many different areas of land use in each category led to the adoption in 1998 of the Ukrainian classifier of types of land purpose. All possible types of purpose are divided in it into 9 sections, indicated by the letters of the English alphabet, and their names strictly correspond to the categories of land in the LC of Ukraine. Thus, the classification of land in Ukraine is carried out according to the scheme “the main purpose of the land plot according to the LC of Ukraine” - “the specific type of the purpose according to the Classifier of species” without introducing an additional concept of ARI, as is done in the land legislation of the Russian Federation. In general, the content of the sections of the same name of the Ukrainian classifier of types of intended use mainly corresponds to the content of the groups of the Russian classifier of VRI.
The procedure for changing the purpose of land in Ukraine
How to change the purpose of the land in Ukraine? Such changes are carried out on land management projects regarding the allocation of land for which the purpose changes. Land management projects are ordered on an initiative basis by rightholders for land plots applying for change to specialized land management companies, and the procedure for their development is approved by law.
Further, the persons applying for a change submit the following documents to the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre:
- statement;
- the original land management project, which is the basis for making a change in the type of purpose of the site;
- document on payment of services for making the requested changes.
After checking the compliance of the documents with the established requirements, the cadastral state registrar makes the appropriate changes and provides the applicant with an extract from the land cadastre confirming the fact of making the changes. Extract from the inventory is unlimited.
