Change of status of the land property available in Russia (sale, lease, development, transfer into another cadastral category)

The agricultural lands may be used for the following permitted purposes:

• lands for horticulture;
• lands for arable farming;
• lands for dacha (holiday house) construction;
• personal subsidiary plot.

Land plots for individual housing construction (IHC) are allocated from settlement lands. In addition, cottage villages may be built on agricultural lands with the permitted use for dacha construction.

In order to build a cottage or a countryside villa on agricultural lands you are not required to transfer the land from one category into another, it would be just enough to change the permitted use, which are much easier and cheaper.

You may build an individual residential house in a horticulture partnership without the registration right, while in the dacha partnership you are allowed to have registration and postal address.

The minimal size of the plot, on which a house may be built, should be 400 square meters. The construction must be approved by architectural authorities.  
No construction is allowed on the coastal strip of water basins (20 m), including construction of fences and attempts to hedge the coastal strip. For construction of cottages beyond the water protection zones it is required to carry out two state expert examinations and to obtain a permit for erection of individual residential houses from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Pursuant to the Water Code, a private owner on legal grounds may acquire a "water body" under which a pond or watered quarry located within the plot limits is implied.

The RF Land Code does not contain any absolute prohibitions of land transfer from one category into another. However, in any transfer options one should comply with the rules established by statutory legal acts for lands of different categories.

One of main obligations of the owner is to use the land plot in compliance with its permitted use. If you are going to use the plot for the purposes other than prescribed for the given land categories, you are required to obtain the authorization for the change of land's designated purpose from the executive authority.

The law prescribes the following restrictions for the land plot owners:

• prohibition on free change of land plot's designated purpose;
• prohibition on change of the land plot use mode;
• prohibition on purchase-sale of land plots in excess of the standard sizes permitted for allocation;
• prohibition on plot purchase-sale in case of existing land disputes as regards the plot, and availability of other transaction hindering reasons stipulated by the law.