Missing the statute of limitations serves as a basis for refusing to challenge the right to a land plot due to overlap with forest fund lands
Expiration of the statute of limitations for claims challenging the right to a land plot on the basis of overlapping its boundaries with those of forest fund lands, for which application has been made by the defendant, constitutes grounds for denying the claim.
The statute of limitations for claims by public-law entities through an authorized body is calculated from the day when the violation of rights to forest land was discovered or should have been discovered by that public-law entity through the relevant authority.
Authorized Body submitted a request to citizens to challenge ownership rights over land plot, citing its unlawful formation at the expense of account of forest fund land.
In making a decision to refuse satisfaction of the claims, court relied on the fact that the disputed land plot from categories of land "lands of populated areas" with permitted use type "for maintaining a personal subsidiary farm and individual housing construction" was registered in the cadastre in 2017 and in the same year
by the decision of the local self-government body was granted to the respondents as a large family in joint fractional ownership. The respondents' property rights on land plot were registered in 2017, the plot is fenced, developed, free from woody and shrub vegetation, and construction of an individual residential house is being carried out on it.
Taking into account the established circumstances of the case, the material and legal interest of the plaintiff is directed towards the recovery of property from another person's unlawful possession.
To claims for the recovery of real property from unlawful possession by third parties, the general statute of limitations applies, calculated from the day when the public-law entity, through its authorized bodies, became aware or should have become aware of the violation of its right and of who is the proper defendant in the claim for protection of this right (Article 200 of the Russian Civil Code (GC RF)).
The authorized body organ, acting with due diligence, entered into the EGRN information regarding the territorial zone "forest management" in 2019, could and should have been aware that the boundaries of the land plot belonging to the respondents intersect with the boundaries of the forest fund lands. When filing a claim with the court in 2024, the authorized body missed the statute of limitations,
of which the respondents have stated that, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 2 Article 199 of the Russian Civil Code (ГК РФ) and the legal position of the Constitutional [Court](/enc/32702/ "Definition of the term 'court' in the legal encyclopedia) of the Russian Federation, as set out in the ruling dated January 28, 2025, No. 3-P, constitutes an independent ground for refusing to satisfy the claims.
Source: Thematic Review of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 11/2026. On the consideration by courts of cases related to the rights to land plots of certain categories of land removed from circulation and restricted in circulation, and on the use of such plots