On 13 July 2015 there was adopted the Federal Law of July 13, 2015 #218-FZ «On State Registration of Real Estate» (hereinafter the «Law»). According to the Law, there will be established a unified federal system for state registration of real estate rights and state cadastral registration of real estate from January 01, 2017. The Law has in fact replaced the law on state registration of real estate rights and transactions with them, having changed (in most cases significantly) regulation of real estate rights registration.
Thus, the Law establishes a Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRRE), which will be maintained in the electronic form only and will include, in particular, a real estate cadaster and register of real estate rights, boundaries register, register files, cadaster maps, documents register books.
Article 3 of the Law provides that state cadastral registration, state rights registration, maintenance of the Unified State Register of Real Estate and provision of information contained in the Unified State Register of Real Estate, will be carried out by the Federal executive body appointed by the Government of the Russian Federation and its territorial bodies.
Besides that, the procedure of rights registration as well as the cadastral registration of real estate is simplified. For example, rights arising by virtue of law will be registered without application of a right holder or a person acquiring a right to real estate – registration is to be conducted on the basis of records received as the result of exchange of information among the authorities and the notaries.
The new Law reduces a time frame for cadastral and rights registration, which will comprise from 3 to 12 days (depending on the type of registration action, basis of rights creation, and the body accepting the documents for registration). There is a separate article in the Law (art. 16), which establishes, for example, a term of 5 working days if the application for cadastral registration and supporting documents are to be filed with the registration authority, and 9 working days – if the application and supporting documents are to be filed with the multifunctional state and municipal services center.
Article 6 of the Law provides for specific aspects of state cadastral registration of different types of real estate and state registration of different types of real estate rights. This article, for example, refers to projects under construction, rights for a unified real estate complex, joint rights to common property, agreements on shared participation in construction.
The Law also establishes the liability for actions (failure to act) of the authorities and bodies, participating in relationships regulated by the Law. Thus, the registration body is responsible for non-compliance of state cadastral registration (state rights registration) with the requirements of the Law, the rules of maintaining of the Unified State Register of Real Estate, other laws and regulations, for loss and misrepresentation of records included in the Unified State Register of Real Estate, for correctness and completeness of records included in the Unified State Register of Real Estate; for unlawful refusal to carry out state cadastral registration and (or) state rights registration, as confirmed by a valid court decision; and other breaches.If such breaches are revealed, and if they have caused damage or losses to an interested party, the injured party will be compensated for such losses in full by the state treasury of the Russian Federation.
Most provisions of the Law will come into force as from 01 January 2017, some provisions will become effective at a later stage (for example, part 4 of article 66 and article 68 of the Law will come into force from 01 January 2020). Changes in the Governmental Decrees and other norms and regulations that are necessary to ensure their compliance with the Law, as well as adoption of other rules and regulations necessary for implementation of the Law, will have to be made before 01 January 2017.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
