MOSCOW, August 13 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Economic Development Ministry drew amendments to the Civil and Land Codes which spells out the procedure to confiscate the land from owners who use it improperly, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta said on Tuesday.
"The land in question includes farmland or plots which were allocated for construction but remained undeveloped for more than three years. A land plot can be taken away if the owner's activity on this land violates the terms of land use and poses danger to human life or health, environment, land fertility, and historical or cultural movements.
The authors of the amendments are not proposing radical measures as yet. Putting up the confiscated land for tender is only possible in case of gross violations such as improper land use along with the activity dangerous to life, health and environment, director of the Ministry's real estate department Andrei Ivakin told the newspaper. The proceeds from the sale of confiscated land will be returned to the owner.
The rules will apply to members of gardening cooperatives as well. The owners of neighboring land plots and the gardening cooperative cannot enjoy any preferences in purchasing the confiscated land.
Chairman of the committee for real estate businesses under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Oleg Skufinsky said the Rosreestr Federal Agency for Realty Cadastre had carried out some 400,000 inspections last year exposing improper use of land in almost half of the cases. Chairman of the All-Russian Public Organization of Gardeners Andrei Tumanov noted that there were certain locations in the Moscow region where some 80 percent of land plots were not in use.