Published on 7 March 2022
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 3822/19
Antonina Mikhaylovna MIZINA against Russia
and 3 other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 17 February 2022
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The present cases concern an allegedly disproportionate interference with the property rights of the applicants (bona fide buyers) on account of the annulment without compensation of their titles to the plots of land acquired from other private parties and registered in the Consolidated State Register of Real Estate Titles and Transactions (more details are summarised in the Appendix). The annulment was the result of rei vindicatio claims brought by the authorities against the applicants and based on various irregularities in the initial privatisations not imputable to them. The courts rejected the applicants’ bona fide plea on the ground that the land plots left the possession of the State (or, where applicable, of the municipality) against its will (compare with Gladysheva v. Russia, no. 7097/10, §§ 77-82, 6 December 2011; as regards plots of land, see Seregin and Others v. Russia, nos. 31686/16 and 4 others, §§ 94-111, with further references, 16 March 2021). In case no. 6404/20 the courts found in addition that the applicant’s house erected on the plot in question in 2016 (title registered in the State Register on 22 December 2016) was an unauthorised construction, and obliged him to demolish it on the ground that the plot of land had not been properly allocated.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
Common questions
1. Was the interference with the applicants’ property rights in conformity with the requirements of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention?
In particular:
(a) Was it “subject to the conditions provided for by law”?
(b) Did the interference serve a legitimate public (or general) interest, within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention?
(c) Did the interference strike a fair balance between the demands of the general interest and the interests of the applicants within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (see, mutatis mutandis, Seregin and Others v. Russia, nos. 31686/16 and 4 others, §§ 94-111, with further references 16 March 2021)? In particular:
(i) Did the authorities act in good time and in an appropriate and consistent manner (see, mutatis mutandis, Muharrem Güneş and Others v. Turkey, no. 23060/08, § 75, 24 November 2020; Semenov v. Russia, no. 17254/15, §§ 60-64, 16 March 2021)?
(ii) Did the applicants act as bona fide buyers, in the light of the principles developed by the Court in its case-law (see Muharrem Güneş and Others, cited above, § 80; Seregin and Others, cited above, §§ 108‑09, and compare with Belova v. Russia, no. 33955/08, §§ 40-41, 15 September 2020) as well as taking into account the criteria set forth in Joint Ruling of the Plenary of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Plenary of the High Commercial Court of the Russian Federation of 29 April 2010 no. 10/22 (see Seregin and Others, cited above, § 64)?
2. The parties are requested to submit information on whether the related judgments have been executed and if so, on the dates of their execution and the current status of the land plots.
Case-specific questions (application no. 6404/20)
1. Did the recognition of the applicant’s house erected on the plot of land in question as an unauthorised construction strike a fair balance between the demands of general interest and the interests of the applicant within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (see, mutatis mutandis, Tumeliai v. Lithuania, no. 25545/14, §§ 77-81, 9 January 2018)?
2. Did the annulment of the applicant’s title to his house and imposing an obligation to demolish it amount to the interference with his right to respect his home? If yes, was it in conformity with the requirements of Article 8 of the Convention? In particular, did it correspond to a “pressing social need” and was it proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued (see, mutatis mutandis, Gladysheva v. Russia, no. 7097/10, §§ 91‑97, 6 December 2011, Stolyarova v. Russia, no. 15711/13, §§ 57-63, 29 January 2015)?
APPENDIX
No.
Application number
Case title
Introduction date
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Represented by (if applicable)
Type of land (категория и назначение участка), first transaction - acquiring by the Applicant – State registration of title (dates)
Situation of the land (region), number of land plots, size, price of acquisition by the Applicant
Rei vindicatio claim:
who and when
Final decision (the Supreme Court of Russia as second cassation)
Related criminal proceedings (if any)/ other reasons for annulment of the title
Complaints to communicate
1
3822/19
Mizina v. Russia
04/01/2019
Antonina Mikhaylovna MIZINA
1986
Oktyabrskiy, Krasnodar Region
Tigran Grigoryevich GAZARYAN
Urban land (земли населенных пунктов), for private housing construction (для индивидуального жилищного строительства)
23/05/2014 – 12/01/2015 – 19/01/2015
Krasnodar Region
1 plot
1,200 m2
800,000 RUB
Municipality of Gellendzhik
2017
07/12/2018
Criminal proceedings in respect of unidentified person for aggravated fraud, unknown outcome
Article 1 of Protocol 1
2
6404/20
Katasonov v. Russia
20/01/2020
Aleksey Georgiyevich KATASONOV
1975
Irkutsk
Urban land, for construction of a residential house (под строительство жилого дома), 12/05/2015 – 16/09/2015 – 29/09/2015
Irkutsk Region
1 plot,
1,600 m2
1,000,000 RUB
Ministry of property relations of Irkutsk Region
2018
24/09/2019
No criminal proceedings, lack of relevant information in the archives
Article 8, Article 1 of Protocol 1
3
13795/21
Minayev v. Russia
26/02/2021
Sergey Anatolyevich MINAYEV
1957
Moscow
Urban land, for private housing construction
2011 - 14/01/2013 - 09/04/2013
Moscow Region
3 plots
two of 1,938 m2 each, one of 2,000 m2
1,000,000 RUB in total
Municipality of the Urban District Istra
2018
02/10/2020
Conviction of the applicant’s seller for aggravated fraud with land plots by Istra Town Court of Moscow Region of 06/03/2017
Article 1 of Protocol 1
4
47033/21
Ovsyannikov v. Russia
21/09/2021
Vladimir Aleksandrovich OVSYANNIKOV
1964
St Petersburg
Olga Vladimirovna Timireva
Urban land, for construction of a residential house
30/08/2017 – 11/07/2018 – 18/07/2018
Leningrad Region
1 plot
1,200 m2
1,000,000 RUB
Tosno Town Prosecutor
2019
23/06/2021
Criminal proceedings in respect of unidentified person for aggravated fraud, unknown outcome
Article 1 of Protocol 1