Published on 8 November 2021
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 11364/19
Igor Gennadyevich YASHIN against Russia
and 5 other applications
(see table appended)
communicated on 13 October 2021
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 on the basis that the plots, either entirely or in part (application no. 28664/19), belonged de facto to specially protected lands: forest, water reserve land, natural reserve land, and therefore could not be owned by private persons. The courts allowed those claims, having either not responded to the applicants’ bona fide plea (applications nos. 11364/19, 28664/19, 26499/20, 55360/20) or decided that the land left the State’s property against its will and that therefore the applicant’s good faith had not been a relevant factor (application no. 30145/19).
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? In particular:
(a) Was the interference “subject to the conditions provided for by law”?
(b) Did the interference serve a legitimate public (or general) interest, within the meaning of the mentioned article?
(c) Did the interference strike a fair balance between the demands of the general interest and the interests of the applicants (Gavrilova and Others v. Russia, no. 2625/17, §§ 74-87, 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 acquirers (see Muharrem Güneş and Others, cited above, § 80; Gavrilova and Others, cited above, §§ 83-84, and contrast with Belova v. Russia, no. 33955/08, §§ 16 and 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 v. Russia, nos. 31686/16 and 4 others, § 64, 16 March 2021)?
2. The parties are requested to submit information on whether the related judgments have been executed, dates of their execution and the current status of the land plots.
Case-specific questions
3. In respect of applications nos. 11364/19, 26499/20, 55360/20, did the domestic courts provide adequate and sufficient reasoning, in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention: i) for rejecting the applicants’ bona fide plea (nos. 26499/20, 55360/20), ii) in response to the substance of the applicant’s submissions about the house erected on his plot (no. 11364/19) (see, mutatis mutandis, Ruiz Torija v. Spain, 9 December 1994, §§ 29-30, Series A no. 303‑A; Suominen v. Finland, no. 37801/97, §§ 36-38, 1 July 2003)?
4. In respect of application no. 11364/19, does the annulment of the applicant’s title to the plot of land imply annulment of his title to his house and his eviction from it?
If yes, was the interference with the applicant’s right to respect his home 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
Date of introduction
Applicant
Year of Birth/ Incorporation
Place of Residence
Represented by
Type of land (категория и назначение участка), first transaction - acquiring by the Applicant – date of 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)
Reasons for annulment of the title
Complaints to communicate
1
11364/19
Yashin v. Russia
14/02/2019
Igor Gennadyevich YASHIN
1960
Andreyevka, Moscow Region
Sergey Aleksandrovich KNYAZKIN
Urban land (земли населенных пунктов) for private housing construction (для индивидуального жилищного строительства)
26/04/2013 – 17/06/2013 – 05/07/2013
Moscow Region
1 plot
2,500 m2
950,000 RUB
Forestry Committee of Moscow Region and Federal Forestry Agency
2016
06/11/2018
The plot was situated on the forest land and could not be transferred to private ownership
Article 1 of Protocol 1, Article 6 § 1, Article 8
2
28664/19
OOO Vympel v. Russia
17/05/2019
OOO VYMPEL
2012
Ivanovo
Land for agricultural use (земли сельскохозяйственного назначения)
2007 – 23/11/2015 – 02/12/2015
Ivanovo Region
1 plot
72 513 024 m2 12,000,000 RUB
Volzhskaya Interregional Environmental Prosecutor’s Office
2018
13/03/2019
The plot overlapped in part with the forest land; this part could not be owned by a private person
Article 1 of Protocol 1
3
30145/19
Alekseyev and Others v. Russia
24/05/2019
Aleksandr Vladislavovich ALEKSEYEV
1962
St Petersburg
Levon Mamikonovich GRIGORYAN
1961
St Petersburg
Yuliya Viktorovna ARKHANGELSKAYA
1987
Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region
Igor Vladimirovich BYDANOV
1966
St Petersburg
Sergey Yuryevich KOSULNIKOV
1967
St Petersburg
Fedor Vasilyevich LYSOV
1957
St Petersburg
Nikolay Sergeyevich REBROV
1949
St Petersburg
Gleb Yevgenyevich REPINSKIY
1971
St Petersburg
Roman Yuryevich SMIRNOFF
1987
St Petersburg
Svetlana Nikolayevna TELYATNIKOVA
1959
St Petersburg
Svetlana Sergeyevna TERSKAYA
1976
Gatchina, Leningrad Region
Georgiy Yevstradyevich CHEREMISIN
1948
St Petersburg
Yuliya Valeryevna
CHUBENKO
1976
St Petersburg
Lyudmila Nikolayevna SHCHERBAKOVA
1960
Gatchina, Leningrad Region
Dmitriy Vladimirovich BYKOV
1981
Siverskiy-2, Leningrad Region
Pavel Aleksandrovich KABANOV
1981
Novosiverskaya, Leningrad Region
Andrey Vadimovich MALEV
1961
St Petersburg
Yelena Andreyevna CHERKASHCHENKO
1982
Sosnovyy Bor, Leningrad Region
Roman Vyacheslavovich SUZDALEV
Urban land for private housing construction 2005 – different dates between 2010 and 2014
Leningrad Region
85 plots
various sizes and prices
Federal Agency for State Property Management (Interregional Directorate in St Petersburg and Leningrad Region)
2017
28/01/2019
Conversion of the forest lands into urban land, the parts of which had been purchased by the applicants, was annulled by the judgment of the Commercial Court of St Petersburg and Leningrad Region of 28/11/2013 no. A56-21418/2013 (see for the same facts Gavrilova and Others, cited above, §§ 4‑20)
Article 1 of Protocol 1
4
26428/20
Galukhin v. Russia
02/06/2020
Sergey Aleksandrovich GALUKHIN
1964
Irkutsk
Zhanna Yuryevna SKURATOVA
Land for agricultural use for private farm household (для личного подсобного хозяйства)
2010 – different dates between 2010 and 2012
Irkutsk Region
6 plots, each of 94900 m2
2 purchased at 171,303.99 RUB each
4 received as donation
Western-Baykal Interregional Prosecutor
2017
27/02/2020
The plots were situated on the forest land and could not be transferred to private ownership
Article 1 of Protocol 1
5
26499/20
Chernichkin v. Russia
08/06/2020
Aleksey Aleksandrovich CHERNICHKIN
1982
Kovrov, Vladimir Region
Khimki, Moscow Region)
Valeriy Vladimirovich SHUKHARDIN
Urban land for private housing construction
30/01/2017 – 03/10/2017 – 04/10/2017
Moscow Region
1 plot
1,000 m2 4,500,000 RUB
Federal State Budgetary Institution “Kanal imeni Moskvy”
2018
30/01/2020
The plot was situated on the land allocated to the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Kanal imeni Moskvy” in 1938 as water reserve land
Article 1 of Protocol 1, Article 6 § 1
6
55360/20
Papoyan v. Russia
14/12/2020
Arshak Kamoyevich PAPOYAN
1994
Verkhneye Buu, Krasnodar Region
Kirill Nikolayevich KOROTEYEV
Urban land for private housing construction
2012 – 30/03/2015 – 10/04/2015
Moscow Region
1 plot
800 m2
1,650,000 RUB
Federal State Budgetary Institution “National Park “Losinyy Ostrov”
2019
07/07/2020
The plot was situated on natural reserve land and could not be transferred to private ownership
Article 1 of Protocol 1, Article 6 § 1