The act of approving the boundaries of a land plot: why it is needed and how it is drawn up

Is official consent of neighbors required when carrying out land surveying?

Yes, consent is required. As our legislation states:

the procedure is carried out in the obligatory presence of persons interested in this issue, which include adjacent land users (owners of plots with which there are no adjacent boundaries are not classified as such), that is, they must be present at the time of geodetic measurements;
if the procedure for notifying neighbors was followed and if no objections were received from them, the cadastre service registers the approved boundaries according to the boundary plan;
in the absence of an act of approval or the absence of signatures of all adjacent land users on it, the registering authority has the right to refuse registration of the site;
if adjacent neighbors were not on site at hour X or simply refused to sign the agreement, the land survey is not canceled, but occurs, only equal to the preliminary one;
within 30 days from the date of land surveying, absent neighbors have the right to express their disagreement with the results and send justified claims to the appropriate authority.

The approval act must contain:

personal data of interested parties;
number and series of identification documents;
diagrams of points indicating boundaries;
disagreement and claims of participants (if any);
signatures of all those present;
all this must be certified with a signature and an engineer’s seal.

Deadline for approval of land boundaries

Is there a set deadline for approving the boundaries of a land plot? Yes, there is this period, and it is thirty days from the moment the neighbors are notified, in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Economic Development No. 735. During this time, the cadastral engineer must carry out all the necessary work to survey the land plot.

In order to coordinate the boundaries of a land plot with one or more neighbors, the personal presence of the owner of the land plot intended for surveying, or his representative, as well as a cadastral engineer, who must personally show all parties and interested parties the boundary of the land plot that he installed. In this case, the act of approving the boundaries of the land plot itself is drawn up by the cadastral engineer, and it is signed by the owners of the land plots or their representatives together with the cadastral engineer.

If all persons were present when the boundaries of the land plot were agreed upon and signed the act, the boundary of the land plot is considered agreed upon.

What to do if the neighbor does not sign the deed?

A prerequisite for land surveying is the coordination of boundaries with neighbors. Coordination of land surveying is carried out according to a certain procedure.

When planning a land survey, neighbors must be notified no later than a month before it begins. As a rule, a day is appointed for this, common to all owners of neighboring plots. The warning must be issued against signature.

On the appointed day, the owner of the plot, having prepared in advance an act on the approval of boundaries, invites the neighbors on the plot to sign it. This act is attached to the survey file and states the legality of the survey work. But dependence on neighbors is an unpredictable issue, especially when it comes to property rights.

If you know that your neighbor will not sign the notice and also refuses to sign the boundary approval act, it is best for you to send the land survey notice by registered mail with return receipt requested. This document will serve as confirmation of the competence of your actions.

Some experienced lawyers who act as intermediaries in land surveying recommend sending the notice three times, after which it acquires the stable legal status of the signature of the person to whom it was presented.

However, according to the law, your warning (notification) is valid if, within one month after sending the letter to you, there was no reaction from the neighbors, and, accordingly, no claims.

But the question of land surveying in this case will be decided by the geodetic company you contacted for the service. If they consider this rule appropriate, you will be able to carry out land surveying on the basis of a postal notification attached to the boundary approval act that the neighbor has received a warning.

But this is only the case if the neighbor does not appear at the meeting to agree on boundaries. Subsequently, if he goes to court claiming that he did not sign the act of coordinating boundaries, you will win the case, since you followed all the procedures.

The situation will be different if the neighbor presents a written claim with a notification of refusal to sign the act of coordinating the boundaries, with an explanation of the reasons. Or he will appear at the meeting by invitation and express his complaints and reasons for refusing to sign the agreement.

In this case, the only possible option to resolve the issue unilaterally is to file a lawsuit in court.

In this case, the fact of the status of the neighbor in the area plays a very important role. The specifics of conducting a case in court will depend on what legal relations bind you. If you select the most relevant algorithm of action, you will win the case. The following legal relations may be established between you:

You both own shares in common (collective) property.
You are both land owners.
One of you is the owner, and the other disposes of the plot by the right of permanent (perpetual) use or lifelong inheritable possession.

A prerequisite for all forms of legal relations between you is the sending of a notification (warning) about the signing of the agreement. What to do if the boundaries of the land plot are not established? Find out here.

If you do not fulfill this condition, after the land survey has been carried out, a neighbor can easily justify its illegality, and your money for carrying out land survey work will be wasted.

You can always go to court to establish your rights to a plot. But it is better to first try to solve the problem with a neighbor who does not recognize the designated borders, peacefully. It is the peaceful resolution of the process that will help both sides of the conflict save their time and money. If the neighbors are on good terms, then the issue of the boundaries of their plots will most likely be resolved peacefully.

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Any disputes with neighbors about the rules and regulations for the use of land lying between the plots may lead to the fact that the act of coordinating the boundaries will not be signed by them. Such situations are often subjective and based on citizens’ personal beliefs about how the plots should be used correctly.

By significant advantage, claims from neighbors are limited in nature, indicating an imaginary or actual violation of their civil and property rights.

The legal right of a person to refuse to sign an act is provided only under the following conditions:

Violations of boundary boundaries as a result of an error made by surveyors or a cadastral engineer.
If he is on a long business trip, including abroad, or in prison.
If he is declared incompetent and is in a specialized medical institution.
If the owner died and his heirs did not have time to enter into property rights.

But due to the human factor, which leads to violations of the legal requirements of the State Real Estate Cadastre, the legal list of reasons is unlawfully expanded by unfounded claims. Therefore, significant reservations were introduced into the procedure for signing the act, allowing land surveying to be carried out without neighbors.

The procedure for approving the boundaries of a land plot

Coordination of the location of the boundaries of a land plot is available to every dacha owner; this activity is carried out in several main stages:

concluding an agreement with a cadastral specialist;
carrying out land surveying;
preparation of the act, registration in the register.

Official approval of the boundaries of a land plot with a neighbor requires the presence of the owner (representative). Disputes often occur between summer residents; each defends his own point of view regarding the area, considering himself to be right. The law establishes a clear procedure for approving the boundaries of a land plot. Are there conflicts? They are resolved legally. If it is not possible to resolve the dispute out of court, then the problem is resolved through the procedure of land disputes in court with the involvement of our lawyer on land issues.

The easiest way to resolve the issue peacefully is by concluding an agreement. There are many cases when neighbors do not agree on the boundaries of a land plot. Obtaining the consent of other owners requires sending a letter, sending a notice of approval of the boundaries of the land plot. Your task is to warn about planned actions.

USEFUL: watch the video on the topic of land disputes: borders, seizure, translation and write your question in the commentary of the video

When neighbors' consent is not required

Article 39 of the Cadastre Law emphasizes that the signature of neighbors during land surveying is not needed in the following cases:

hectares in state ownership are provided for long-term possession, lifelong or indefinite use;
state land was given for the indefinite use of a government organization;
in case of a long-term absence of a neighbor (for example, he went for permanent residence abroad);
if a neighbor is declared incompetent (you must provide the appropriate certificate);
the owner has died, and his heirs have not yet entered into inheritance rights (you can ask the heirs to provide a certificate from a notary);
when the adjacent plot is under arrest (a certificate from the SSP will be required).

Consequences of illegal land surveying

What to do if the owner of the adjacent plot still does not agree with the designated boundaries? Ask the court for help. Such cases are dealt with by judicial bodies with general jurisprudence. You can go to the nearest court from the place where the site is located.

First of all, the owner of the plot, whose neighbor refuses to sign the agreement, needs to prepare a statement of claim.

The cadastral engineer is an official. Therefore, in case of violation of the work procedure, incl. and drawing up an agreement, you should submit demands to the court to declare the specialist’s actions illegal and the act invalid. It is also necessary to demand that boundary signs be restored at the previous borders.

Engineers are also liable for unlawful actions. In a dispute over illegal survey results, courts may involve engineers as defendants. This is especially important, since if the land surveying procedure is declared illegal, the customer of the work performed will have material claims against the contractor.

How to challenge the act of approving the boundaries of a land plot?

So how to challenge the act of approving the boundaries of a land plot? The act of approving the boundaries of a land plot can only be challenged in court by filing a statement of claim. This position is also confirmed by existing judicial practice, including Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 10 and the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 22 of April 29, 2010 “On some issues arising in judicial practice when resolving disputes related to the protection of rights property and other real rights”, which states that disputes about establishing the boundaries of a land plot relate to claims about rights to real estate.

When considering a claim in court to establish the boundaries of a land plot, the court will resolve the dispute, guided by the norms of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the norms of the Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation, and the norms of current judicial practice.

If the court makes a positive decision on the filed claim to establish the boundaries of a land plot, this decision will be the basis for changing information about this land plot in the state real estate cadastre.

What to do if your neighbor does not agree to land surveying

There may be several options for resolving the issue.

There is a certain procedure for approving land surveying:

All participants in the procedure are warned about the event one month in advance. The warning must be handed in against signature, so that later the other party cannot plead ignorance. If there are assumptions that the owner of the adjacent plot will refuse to sign the deed or may ignore this event altogether, a notification must be sent by registered mail with a list of enclosed documents and return receipt requested.
If there is no response to the notification received, it is sent again by registered mail 3 times every 2 weeks.
If a claim is received in response to the letter, it will have to be considered in the district court.
A preliminary approval act is being prepared.
After determining the boundaries, the engineer collects the consent signatures of interested parties or issues a waiver of consent to the preliminary boundaries with an explanation of the reasons.
If interested parties did not come to the meeting of owners of neighboring plots and, accordingly, did not sign the act, land surveying is carried out on the basis of the attached notification of delivery. If no claims are received within a month, the boundaries are considered agreed upon. If, after some time, they go to court, protesting against the survey carried out on the basis of absence from the meeting, the defendant will have in hand all the documents indicating that all measures for informing were taken.

In this case, all issues will have to be resolved through the court. If your neighbor does not sign the agreement, and you have a notice of receipt of a warning about the upcoming event, then you have complied with all legal requirements. The court decides the legality of the land claims of both parties.

Perhaps due to some extenuating circumstances. In this case, land surveying is carried out without his consent. Then you will need to provide the coordinates of the turning points for review, so that he can see the correctness of their location, and ask him to sign the document.

Judicial order

It is not always possible to resolve the issue peacefully. Sometimes the opponent simply does not sign the act or takes forever to propose changes. What to do in such a situation?

The issue has to be resolved through the courts. This category of cases is considered by courts of general jurisdiction. You can select the desired court site based on the location of the facility.

When preparing a statement of claim, you need to consider the following points:

a boundary plan will be used to justify the boundaries, that is, the procedure will definitely need to be carried out before going to court;
neighbors have the right to make written objections and state them orally, attach the results of “their” examination and ask the court to appoint an independent one;
Third parties may be invited to consider the case: a cadastral specialist and an employee of Rosreestr.

Download the statement of claim to establish the boundaries of a land plot (sample/form)

After the decision is made, it is the judicial act that will be the basis for making changes to the cadastral data. Therefore, the decision must clearly define the boundaries.

Registration is carried out through Rosreestr or MFC after a court decision is made, on the basis of a court document.

Every citizen has the right to go to court. This is evidenced by the norms of the Civil and Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. However, the right must be properly implemented. Each participant in the dispute will have to justify his position independently, presenting the necessary evidence base and pointing to the necessary legal norms.

What to do if you can’t find a neighbor

And what if he does not appear on his property for a very long time, or his plot is used by relatives or tenants? Then you can carry out land surveying without his consent. How can this be done legally so that there are no claims later?

If the home address of the owner of the neighboring plot is not known, or even if his name is not known, you need to contact Rosreestr and order an extract from the Unified State Register. You will have to pay a fee to provide information to the Unified State Register. To apply to Rosreestr, only a passport is required. A triple notification should be sent to the address indicated in the extract and the receipts received at the post office should be handed over to the cadastral engineer.
There is another option to solve this problem. A wanted notice for the landowner should be published in the local newspaper. If there is no response, the newspaper is attached to the act.

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The other side's view: what to do if land surveying was carried out without your consent

How to carry out land surveying without agreement with neighbors? There are several options to solve this problem:

Send a registered letter with notification three times with a gap of 2 weeks. If there is no response or counterclaims, notifications of delivery can be filed with the agreement document.
If neighbors are absent for a long time and their residence is unknown, there is no address, land surveying can also be carried out.

There are other good reasons when a person cannot physically come and sign a paper, but in principle agrees with the boundaries (for example, he is on a business trip or works in another region, or in another country altogether). Some people have an electronic signature that can also be used.

Another situation that may arise at the current stage is that the neighbor did not sign the act, stated his claims in writing, but is in no hurry to file a lawsuit. In this case, you need to file a claim yourself, but without describing your claims in detail, but simply indicating the fact of non-signing of the act.

If a neighbor set up boundaries without your consent - that is, you did not know about the upcoming event, did not receive notifications by mail, he did not approach you to agree on the date of the measurements (in other words, you did not shy away from signing the documentation) and you do not agree with recorded measurement results, you need to go to court and indicate in the statement of claim about improper land surveying without your opinion.

However, if the neighbor has a notice of delivery of a letter to you with information on the upcoming land survey, and you simply avoided attending and did not provide any reasoned objections in writing within 30 days, then the court can even unilaterally approve the boundaries. Therefore, it is very important to correctly compose all objections and send them by mail with acknowledgment of receipt.

Of course, there may also be a situation where a neighbor simply forged your signature. Such disputes are also resolved through court.

Ideally, according to the law, after filing an application for land surveying, neighbors in the area are required to provide written notice of the date assigned for geodetic work carried out on the area. This date is officially designated as the day of the neighborhood meeting. According to the regulations, such notification is given one month before the planned work. In addition, it is transferred against the signature of the neighboring owner or other title owner of a nearby plot.

On the day appointed for boundary work, all notified interested parties check how the work is being carried out and receive qualified explanations, which should leave no doubt about the correctness of the drawing and registration of boundary boundaries.

Application for land surveying.

Notifying neighbors about land surveying.

If the person who signed the warning about the work being carried out on the site does not appear, boundary boundaries can be established without his participation. It is likely that the owner of the site was unable to appear due to valid reasons.

After drawing up the documentation and the approval act, he needs to present the calculations carried out and the coordinates of the turning points, according to which he can verify the correctness of their location and sign the approval act.

Familiarization actions are within the powers of the cadastral engineer, who informs the owner and his neighbors at an expert level about the accuracy of measurements and placement of pegs at turning points.

The main result of this procedure is the signing of the act by all neighbors who have no doubt about the correctness of the established coordinates.

In another case, such work is carried out if the owner has a verbal agreement with neighbors who promise to sign the act, but refuse to be present on the site. The act they sign will be fully legal.

The act of coordinating the boundaries of the land plot with neighbors: form, example of filling.

When the act is signed by all persons whose plots are adjacent to the plot to be surveyed, the survey procedure will be recognized as valid.

But if the applicant obviously understands that the neighbor will not only not come to the meeting, but will also refuse to sign, it is advisable for him to begin collecting documentation confirming the legal capacity of the land surveyor, obviously.

In this case, you need to follow the established algorithm:

Draw up an official invitation to a meeting of owners to carry out survey work.
Send it by registered mail with a description of the attachment and notification of receipt by the addressee.
Receive a shipping receipt and a list of attachments certified by the post office operator. Attach to them the subsequently received notification of receipt of registered mail.
After 2 weeks, repeat sending according to the same scheme. After another 2 weeks, send a third registered letter.
Compile the documentation received as a result of sending three registered letters, notarize it and transfer it to the cadastral engineer.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with: Execution of a court decision, procedure and deadlines for execution

A three-time notification of land surveying replaces a personally affixed signature on the document submitted by the owner. It comes into force one month after the third registered letter is sent.

The legal capacity of this document provides for the absence of retaliatory claims from the neighbor on the site.

If a claim response is received in response to one of the registered letters, it will have to be considered administratively or judicially.

The absence of the owner of an adjacent memory in certain cases is also documented:

When registering an incapacitated owner - by providing a certificate of his location in a medical institution.
Persons on a long business trip, departure for personal reasons, or in places of detention can send consent by email or send a certificate stating the impossibility of leaving.
Relatives of the deceased owner who did not have time to inherit rights submit a certificate from a notary.
If the adjacent land plot is under arrest, submit a copy of the court decision or a certificate from the Bailiff Service.

Such situations also provide for the attachment of an official document or sent consent to the boundary deed.

If the home address of a neighbor on a dacha plot is not known or in other cases when his location is unknown, you should contact Rosreestr for an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights Holders (USRN).

Providing information from the Unified State Register is subject to payment of a state fee, based on article

333.33 Tax Code of the Russian Federation

, the amount of which depends on the time the right arose and the status of the person applying.

Samples of extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate for a land plot.

Triple notification must be sent by registered mail to the address indicated in the statement, as shown above. Submit the received extract and documents received at the post office to the cadastral engineer, for the legal capacity of the land surveying procedure being carried out.

In all of the above cases, when the owner is absent, it is necessary to find out whether he has left an attorney who manages his affairs and has received the authority to put a notification signature on the basis of a notarized power of attorney.

In case of irresolvable contradictions, when a neighbor on the site argues the refusal with incorrectly made calculations or other legally significant reasons, you need to go to court. If the court's decision is positive, an extract from its decision on this issue is also attached to the boundary approval act instead of the neighbor's signature.

The article shows various options that will help to circumvent a neighbor’s refusal to sign a boundary agreement act. These methods are legal and allow for conscientious registration of land surveying.

Read more information about the boundaries of land plots in our section.

Judicial dispute settlement

If the neighbors categorically refuse to sign a general agreement, or within 30 days you have expressed your attitude towards the established boundary points, the dispute can be resolved in court.
To do this, a statement of claim is filed in the court of general jurisdiction at the location of the disputed object. The proceedings in cases of this category are carried out according to the following rules:

the basis for approval of boundaries in a lawsuit will be the boundary plan presented by the plaintiff;
the court is obliged to consider all written objections submitted by neighbors;
a cadastral specialist - an engineer, and, if necessary, an official of the Rosreestr service - is invited to participate in the case by a third party.

Since the correct consideration of these disputes requires special knowledge, the court may involve independent experts in the field of cadastre in the case. In addition, at the request of one of the parties, the court has the right to order repeated cadastral work to confirm or refute previously established boundaries.

When making a decision, the court is obliged to indicate the exact coordinates of characteristic border points, since the judicial act will be the basis for cadastral registration and registration actions. Having received a court ruling, the interested person contacts the Rosreestr service or the Multifunctional Center to register the object for cadastral registration. The following documents are submitted along with the application:

a document confirming the legality of ownership of the plot;
boundary plan;
act of agreement with neighbors’ objections;
a judicial act confirming the border points.

Based on the listed documents in the Rosreestr service, the approved border points will be entered into the Unified State Register of Real Estate, about which the copyright holder will receive a corresponding extract.