Harimedia Forum

Let's start from the beginning.

If we were to buy or lease some land, there are the following questions which need to be answered:

it's very difficult to change the category of land. Once it's considered to be 'agricultural' or intended for housing, for ex., it's hard to change the category, it takes lots of paperwork, bribes and so on.
The way out seems to be to buy land of different categories which we might need. For ex., buy agricultural land for farming and piece of land next to it for construction of dwelling houses. Question # 1 - can we do it? Question #2 - what if we need to have our own shops, office buildings etc.? In order to have all those we'll need to get land intended for construction of public buildings or will need to change the category of land. Another problem...

Direct ownership of land is not the only option available to individual homeowners. If one cannot change the zoning status of agricultural land to communal living, it might be possible to register the entire plot of land as a Cooperative. In certain circumstances one can create a project with a particular theme that is incorporated as a cooperative society. The cooperative society is owned by the members, controlled by the members, and managed by the members who work within it to accomplish the ideal of that society. If you wish to live in that community you must be a member of the Society and to become a member of the Cooperative Society you need to pay a fee and some monthly rent for your living facility.

If one cannot change the zoning on an agricultural land or one cannot create an alternative cooperative society, one should reject that particular piece of land as being irrelevant. Therefore before any land is purchased, or even considered, one has to have a written confirmation that one of the two above-mentioned possibilities is allowed. One also has to consider the tax implications of owning land before one purchases a plot. Master planning is required before the purchase of a potential community and at all stages of its development.

It has to be investigated in Russia if there are alternative options available in the present law that facilitate what we are trying to do. It might be that something exists that we are not aware of. Perhaps some professor in a University can assist?

In Russia there is an experience of people who call themselves "followers for Anastasiya". They create their settlements and ssuccessfully solve juridical problems with land. I have the disk with the record of their detailed tale about it.