Unauthorized Buildings: Problems of Law Enforcement

Abstract

The paper is devoted to such a legal phenomenon as unauthorized construction. Unauthorized construction of buildings and structures has become widespread in modern Russia. Despite the external legalization of such buildings, many of their owners subsequently face the problem of recognizing such buildings as illegally built and the threat of demolition. The paper analyzes in detail the criteria of unauthorized construction established in civil legislation, concludes that these criteria have passed the test of time and have practically not been subjected to changes introduced into the legislation on unauthorized buildings. Moreover, they were also transferred to the draft law on reforming the Section of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulating property rights. The courts, when considering cases of unauthorized buildings, meet bona fide developers who did not know and should not have known that their construction was illegal, as they took all necessary measures to obtain a construction permit. One of the measures aimed at protecting bona fide developers was the provision of the law on the non-recognition as an unauthorized construction of a structure erected in violation of restrictions on the use of land, if at the time of its construction the developer did not know and could not know about the effect of such restrictions. This exception applies to construction in areas where the use of territories is limited. It was often not possible to find out about the location of these territories before. However, at present, buildings constructed in such zones are under threat of demolition. Disputes on this topic are not unique in judicial practice; they can also be brought to the European Court of Human Rights. It seems unfair to the author to demolish such buildings without paying the developer fair compensation, since the state itself often fails to provide conditions for informing the population about the existence of such zones in a particular area.