On the regulation of the use of land plots by investors

List of Land Plots

The right to a land plot arises for an investor from the moment of state registration of this right and receipt of the corresponding certificate (attestation) of state registration, issued by the state registration organization.

Investors, in accordance with the purposes and conditions of land allocation, have the right to:

independently use the land plot;
use, in the manner established by law, for purposes not related to profit extraction, water bodies located on the land plot, common minerals, including peat, as well as the beneficial properties of the land;
erect capital structures (buildings, facilities) in the manner established by law;
compensation for losses caused by the seizure or temporary occupation of land plots, demolition of real estate objects located thereon, as well as restriction (encumbrance) of rights to land plots, including the establishment of land easements;
voluntarily renounce the land plot;
demand the establishment or termination of a land easement.

Investors who are lessees of land plots, for the right to conclude lease agreements for which a fee was charged, are entitled, unless otherwise established by legislative acts, to:

sublease the leased land plot within the term of the lease agreement;
transfer their rights and obligations under the land lease agreement to another person;
use the right to lease the land plot as collateral within the term of the lease agreement.

Investors are obliged to:

use the provided land plots, as well as the structures located thereon, in accordance with the intended purpose and conditions of land allocation;
implement land protection measures;
timely pay for the use of land plots;
carry out landscaping of land plots;
comply with the deadlines established by legislative acts for occupying land plots, including the construction of capital structures (buildings, facilities) thereon, as well as other conditions for land allocation;
not violate the rights of other land users;
return the land plots provided to them for temporary use or lease upon the expiration of the period for which they were provided, or timely apply for its extension;
comply with established restrictions (encumbrances) on rights to the land plot, including the terms of the land easement.

To establish additional guarantees for the protection of investors' rights, the legislation stipulates that the lease term for a state-owned land plot provided for purposes related to the construction and/or maintenance of capital structures (buildings, facilities) must be no less than their standard construction and/or operation period. Providing a land plot for a shorter period is only possible with the consent of the persons to whom the land plot is provided. The lease term for a land plot must not exceed ninety-nine years.

Privately owned land plots may be subject to mortgage, and the right to lease land plots, for which a fee was charged for the right to conclude lease agreements, may be subject to pledge only as security for an obligation under a loan agreement concluded with a bank.

Privately owned land plots provided for the construction and/or maintenance of capital structures (buildings, facilities) may be subject to mortgage only together with the capital structures (buildings, facilities) or unfinished preserved capital structures located thereon, unless otherwise established by the President of the Republic of Belarus.

In this case, the land plot subject to mortgage remains the property of the mortgagor, and the lessee (mortgagor), whose right to lease the land plot is subject to pledge, continues to use the land plot.

Only banks, the list of which is determined by the President of the Republic of Belarus, can be mortgagees of land plots and the right to lease land plots. Currently, Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 718 of December 7, 1999, as amended by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 330 of June 13, 2008, approved the following list of banks that can be pledgees of land plots owned by individuals and legal entities when issuing loans to these persons:

Open Joint Stock Company "Savings Bank "Belarusbank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Belagroprombank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Belpromstroybank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Belarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction "Belinvestbank";
"Priorbank" Open Joint Stock Company;
Open Joint Stock Company "Belvnesheconombank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Paritetbank";
Closed Joint Stock Company Bank VTB (Belarus);
Closed Joint Stock Company "Bank of International Trade and Investments";
Joint Belarusian-Russian Open Joint Stock Company "Belgazprombank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Belarusian People's Bank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Technobank";
Open Joint Stock Company "Bank Moscow-Minsk";
Closed Joint Stock Company "Joint Stock Commercial Bank "Belrosbank";
Closed Joint Stock Company "Minsk Transit Bank";
Closed Joint Stock Company "Trustbank";
Closed Joint Stock Company "BTA Bank";
Closed Joint Stock Company "Reconversion and Development Bank".

In the event of non-performance by the mortgagor of an obligation secured by a mortgage or pledge, the enforcement officer, in respect of a land plot subject to foreclosure by court decision, or the mortgagee bank, on behalf of the mortgagor, has the right to alienate the land plot or the right to lease the land plot in the manner established by law, and to satisfy the claims of the mortgagee bank against the mortgagor from the proceeds.

The realization of a land plot that is the subject of a mortgage is carried out in the form of an open auction, the initial price of which is set at the value of the land plot determined by a court decision or a notarized agreement between the mortgagee by foreclosing on this land plot, and cannot be lower than its cadastral value on the date of concluding the mortgage agreement.

Regarding the consequences of the seizure of the pledged item, it should be noted that if the mortgagor's ownership right to the property that is the subject of the pledge ceases on the grounds and in the manner established by law, due to seizure (redemption) for state needs, requisition, or nationalization, and the mortgagor is provided with other property or appropriate compensation, the pledge right extends to the property provided in exchange, or, accordingly, the mortgagee acquires the right to preferential satisfaction of its claim from the amount of compensation due to the mortgagor. The mortgagee also has the right to demand early performance of the obligation secured by the pledge (Article 335 of the Civil Code).

The right of private ownership of land plots is terminated by decision of the relevant local executive committee in accordance with its competence or by court order:

upon alienation of land plots to persons who cannot be owners of land plots;
upon voluntary transfer of land plots to state ownership;
upon seizure of a land plot for state needs;
upon liquidation of a non-state legal entity of the Republic of Belarus;

The right of private ownership of a land plot also terminates upon compulsory seizure of a land plot by court order:

upon non-payment of land tax after two tax periods;
upon use of the land plot for purposes other than its intended use;
if a non-state legal entity of the Republic of Belarus has not started occupying the said plot within six months from the date of receiving the certificate (attestation) of state registration of the creation of the land plot and the emergence of the right to it;
upon non-implementation of land protection measures;
upon confiscation of the land plot.

In particular, if an investor, within six months (or another period specified in the agreement for the implementation of the right to design and construct capital structures (buildings, facilities), or in the decision of the local executive committee on granting a land plot) from the date of receiving the certificate (document) of state registration of the creation of the land plot and the emergence of rights to it, has not started occupying the said plot in accordance with its purpose and conditions of provision (has not started construction, or other development of the land plot), the local executive committee, in accordance with its competence for the seizure and provision of land plots, no later than one month from the expiration of the specified period, sends the investor a directive on the necessity of occupying the said plot (starting construction, or other development of the land plot) in accordance with its purpose and conditions of provision. The period specified in the directive cannot exceed one month.

If, upon the expiration of the period specified in the directive, the investor does not start construction or other development of the land plot in accordance with its purpose and conditions of provision, the local executive committee, in accordance with its competence for the seizure and provision of land plots:

submits an application to the court for the termination of the right of private ownership of the land plot and, after the court decision on the termination of such right comes into legal force and the state registration of the termination of the right of private ownership of the land plot by the investor, decides on the further use of this plot;
makes a decision on the termination of the land lease agreement, if the right to unilaterally terminate the land lease agreement is provided for by this agreement, containing conditions for its further use and a mandatory directive for the state registration organization to carry out the state registration of the termination of the land lease right by the investor, and after the state registration of the termination of this right, decides on the further use of such plot, or submits an application to the court for the termination of the land lease agreement and, after the court decision on the termination of such agreement comes into legal force and the state registration of the termination of the land lease right by these persons, decides on its further use.

The state registration organization carries out, in accordance with the fifth part of this paragraph, the state registration of the termination of the right to the land plot by the investor within seven working days from the date of receiving the directive from the local executive committee, a copy of the court decision, sent by the local executive committee.

Such state registration is carried out at the expense of the respective local budget.

If, within two months from the date of the decision to grant the land plot, the investor fails to fulfill the requirements stipulated in this decision for the state registration of the land plot, rights, restrictions (encumbrances) of rights to it within this period, the decision to grant the land plot may be revoked by the local executive committee that made this decision.

The local executive committee notifies the state registration organization of the revocation of the said decision no later than three working days.

A court decision on the compulsory acquisition of a land plot for violating land protection and use legislation is made based on materials indicating that after receiving a written order from a state body (official) exercising state control over land use and protection, the owner of the land plot did not take measures to eliminate the violations of land protection and use legislation within the established period.

The right to lease (sublease) a land plot is terminated on the grounds and in the manner provided for by civil legislation or the lease agreement. The right to lease (sublease) a land plot is also terminated in case of land acquisition for state needs, or transactions made by the lessee (sublessee).

The termination of the right to lease a land plot entails the termination of the right to sublease this land plot, unless otherwise stipulated by the lease agreement.

Legislative acts may provide for other cases of termination of rights to a land plot.

The state legally guarantees the protection of the rights of investors – land users (owners, users, holders, lessees) when their land plots are acquired and real estate located on them is demolished.

Land plots used in the established manner can only be acquired for state needs. Thus, in accordance with paragraph 8 of the Regulations on the procedure for the acquisition and provision of land plots, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated December 27, 2007, No. 667 "On the acquisition and provision of land plots," which came into force on January 1, 2008, when a privately owned land plot is used for state needs, the right of private ownership of this plot may be terminated with the simultaneous redemption of such a plot at its cadastral value at the time of redemption in the manner established by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated March 26, 2008, No. 462, with compensation for losses to the owner and the transfer of the land plot to the ownership of the Republic of Belarus.

The procedure for compensation for losses and their amounts are determined by organizations in accordance with the specified Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated March 26, 2008, No. 462.

When a leased land plot is acquired, if a fee was charged for the right to conclude a lease agreement, the lessee is compensated for losses from the local budget of the corresponding administrative-territorial unit to which the fee for the right to conclude a land lease agreement was received.

In cases where property that is the subject of a pledge is acquired from the pledgor in the manner established by legislative acts on the grounds that another person is actually the owner of this property (Article 282 of the Civil Code), or as sanctions for a committed crime or other offense (Article 244 of the Civil Code), the pledge in respect of this property is terminated. In these cases, the pledgee has the right to demand early performance of the obligation secured by the pledge (Article 335 of the Civil Code).

In the event of the seizure of a land plot encumbered by a mortgage from the mortgagor for state or public needs and the provision of another land plot to them in private ownership, simultaneously with the state registration of the creation of this plot and the emergence of the right of private ownership to it, with the consent of the bank that issued the loan, a new mortgage agreement is concluded or amendments are made to the existing one, and the state registration of the right of pledge to this land plot is carried out.

All disputes related to the seizure of land plots and compensation for losses to land users shall be resolved by the court.

On the Regulation of Relations in the Field of Land Use by Investors