Resolving disputes between neighbors during land surveying

When purchasing land, you need to pay attention not only to its cost, quality characteristics, and the presence of encumbrances, but also to carefully study the documents in which the boundaries of the acquired plot are established and legally fixed.

If you do not check this information in a timely manner, then in the future during land surveying you will not be able to avoid disputes and conflicts with neighbors on the site, and in some cases, litigation. All this will lead to additional costs and expenses.

Why do disputes with neighbors arise?

Boundaries are the main individualizing attribute of a site, and they are established by cadastral engineers during the relevant work. And since such land is usually adjacent to neighboring plots, not all landowners may be satisfied with the division being carried out.

This is why disputes with neighbors are so frequent when surveying a plot of land. It may happen that when determining the boundaries, it will be discovered that they overlap or intersect with the boundaries of adjacent areas, and data about the latter is already in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. There may be other reasons.

Common causes of disagreement?

The main goal of cadastral work is to highlight the exact position of the boundaries of 2 neighboring plots. The clarification of this data should be carried out in consultation with the people who own the border land. This land could be:

• their property;
• an object of permanent use;
• rented area.

Disputes regarding boundary delineation may arise for the following reasons:

• the existing boundaries have moved or been superimposed following the actions of cadastral engineers;
• Data from engineers hired by different owners does not match;
• every landowner wants to increase his territory;
• disagreements arose when establishing land easements;
• land surveying work was carried out without the consent of neighbors;
• There are errors in the USRN information .

In addition, conflict situations often arise when dividing a plot or, conversely, annexing territories.

As already noted, an error in the Unified State Register can lead to disputes during land surveying. There are technical and register (cadastral) inaccuracies. A technical error is a letter of a word or a number. It is adjusted independently by the registrar of rights or:

• at the request of citizens interested in this case;
• according to a court verdict.

After it is corrected and the corrected data is entered into the register, the registration authority informs the parties to the relationship about this within 3 days.

A registration error in boundary or technical terms is corrected within 5 days by decision of the court or registration authority. You need to understand that correction of cadastral errors is possible, unless it leads to the emergence of a new right to real estate or to its termination.

Carrying out work without the consent of neighbors

There are situations when an interested person was sent a notice ( download sample ) and he received it, but did not react in any way. That is, he did not agree with him and did not formulate a reasoned refusal to answer.

Then the boundary can be considered consistent. In this case, it is necessary to record the fact that there was no refusal and attach documents that would confirm that the notice was sent to the neighbor.

Also, a written refusal, if any, should be attached to the approval act. This must be done to ensure that the approval procedure is followed, because if it is not followed, the land will not be registered in the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

After 30 days, you can call people for a second agreement.

Overlaying land boundaries

Let's look at a common reason for a dispute between neighbors. The owner carried out land surveying and registered the plot in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. When his neighbor began to carry out the same procedure to clarify his boundaries, he discovered that the boundaries of his land plots had overlapped and he was denied registration.

This situation could occur due to the fact that:

• the boundary reference point from which the measurement was taken was incorrectly selected;
• land surveying was carried out along the existing fence between neighbors, which was installed incorrectly;
• the documents for the land did not contain data on the coordinates of the borders.

There are two ways to carry out land surveying correctly and resolve disputes between neighbors in the area: administrative and judicial. In the first option, the neighbors come to an agreement, the cadastral engineer makes the necessary adjustments, and the area of ​​the adjacent plot does not change. After this, a plan for coordinating boundaries is drawn up.

But such peaceful settlements are rare rather than the rule. Nobody wants to reduce the area of ​​their land plots. Therefore, you have to go to court.

Changing the boundaries of the site

Registry errors often lead to a situation where, in accordance with the new boundary plan, the border runs along the neighbor’s property for several meters and the fence needs to be moved. If we are talking about a minor change in boundaries, then the dispute can be resolved by reaching an agreement with the neighbor. If the area of ​​the plot changes significantly, then you will most likely have to go to court.

The statement of claim must contain the requirement:

• on determining the boundaries of the land;
• on correcting erroneous data entered by cadastral engineers and making changes to the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
• recognition of land rights.

The coordinates of the formed plot are also indicated based on the engineer’s conclusion.

How to resolve disputes

To avoid legal disputes due to land surveying, it is necessary to determine the location of the boundaries of land plots with the involvement of the owners of adjacent plots. However, they cannot object to the boundaries of a plot that does not border their land.

Not only the neighbors themselves can participate, but also a citizen approved at the general meeting on behalf of:

• owners of apartments or rooms in the house (if the border area belongs to them all);
• holders of shares in agricultural lands;
• participants of a gardening or dacha non-profit association of citizens;
• state or municipal authorities. He must present a power of attorney with a stamp and signature (notarization is not required).

Agreeing on boundaries can take place as a meeting or with each stakeholder separately. Notice of a meeting can be delivered in different ways:

• personally to the citizen against signature;
• sent by email;
• by letter with acknowledgment of delivery.

The notice can also be published, but only if:

• the measured area is included in the forest fund;
• there is no postal address or email in the USRN;
• the sent letter was returned with a note that it was impossible to deliver;
• the plot is part of a garden or dacha association,
• agricultural land and owned by more than 5 owners;
• the plot is the common property of the residents of the apartment building.

Notice must be given or published 30 days before the meeting. The result of the agreement is formalized as an act of location of boundaries. Challenging the survey results is possible in court.

Legal advice

You can clarify the boundaries of your territories and resolve possible conflict situations with your neighbors according to the following plan:

1. Contact a cadastral engineer to create an act of approval of the location of the boundaries of the land plot. All costs associated with paying for his services are borne by the customer. The act is drawn up on the other side of the boundary plan. This document will be considered agreed upon only if all neighbors sign.
2. Re-negotiate if necessary.
3. If during land surveying it was not possible to settle disputes with neighbors and clarify the boundaries voluntarily, you will need to go to court. In the lawsuit, it is necessary to note fences, trees, poles, and other plantings that determine the location of the site. The owner of the border territory is indicated as the defendant, and the third party is the cadastral engineer and the rights registration authority.
4. Participate in hearings.

After receiving the court decision, the landowner contacts the Rosreestr office and registers his land rights.

In the next video you can read the opinion of a lawyer from Moscow regarding boundary disputes.

Judicial practice in resolving disputes

As jurisprudence on land disputes regarding land surveying shows, as well as examples on forums, many citizens do not comply with the existing territorial jurisdiction of cases and file a claim at the location of the defendant.

These actions are incorrect and claims will be returned. The claim should be filed at the location of the disputed area.

You also need to remember that controversial cases are resolved in the magistrate and district courts. In the first case, applications are considered for plots worth up to 50,000 rubles. If the cost of the claim is higher, the district court will consider it.

In judicial practice, there are often cases related to violations of the procedure for informing interested parties about the approval process. And if this order was violated, then the boundary plans may be declared invalid.

Such a decision was, for example, made by the Central District Court of Kaliningrad. The authority considered the statement of the chairman of the SNT, who claimed that he was not properly informed about the meeting to agree on the boundaries of the defendants’ land plots. The notice was published in the newspaper. The plaintiff himself was constantly on the territory of SNT and it was not difficult to notify him of the meeting, however, this was not done. Therefore, the court made the above decision.