After the law prohibiting foreign citizens from owning land plots in the border municipalities of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol came into force about a year ago, more than 500 foreigners gave up their property.
As reported to Rossiyskaya Gazeta in the press service of the Goskomregister of the Republic of Crimea, at the moment foreigners or stateless persons still own 11 thousand land plots.
“In the spring of 2020, when the Republic of Kazakhstan and Sevastopol were included in the list of territories where foreigners are prohibited from owning land, according to Rosreestr, there were 11.5 thousand such land plots owned by foreign citizens, stateless persons and foreign legal entities”, – Goskomregister said.
“And as of January 1, 2021, their number dropped to 11 thousand”.
Since March 20 last year, the taboo on foreign ownership of land has been extended to 19 municipalities of the Republic of Crimea and 12 municipalities of the city of Sevastopol. At the same time, no one is going to take away the already existing sites by force. Any foreigner has a choice between sale, donation, re-registration to a citizen of the Russian Federation, or can agree with the municipality on the terms of redemption into state property. But if the owner barks, then judicial mechanisms will come into play.
“If a foreign citizen does not get rid of the plot on his own, then at the suit of the municipality or the prosecutor’s office there will be either a sale or a seizure in favor of the state”, – lawyer Pavel Gorbachev explained.
“But in any case, the redemption or transfer to state ownership with compensation to the owner will take place by a court decision. After the decision of the court, the plot is sold compulsorily”.
At the same time, there are nuances even in this issue. If there is already a house or other real estate on the disputed site, it is not at all necessary for a foreign citizen to give it up and even more so to demolish it. Having transferred the land to the ownership of the municipality, he can continue to use his property by concluding a lease with the authorities.
“That is, you can remain the owner of the building without being the owner of the site”, – the lawyer explained, adding that in this case the land will be transferred to the owner of the building without competitive procedures.