According to the Russian legislation, one can identify seven categories of land:
- agricultural land;
- settlement land;
- industrial land and land of other special purposes;
- land of specially protected natural territories;
- forest land and water fund land;
- national reserve land.
Agricultural Land: Characteristics and Principles of Use
The land in the Russian Federation located outside the settlements and intended for cultivation in agricultural purposes is classified as agricultural land. Any construction may be strictly prohibited on some plots of such a land. To get permission for a residential building construction, a plot of land must be intended for:
- noncommercial horticultural associations;
- private farming;
- gardening.
Individual subsidiary farming may be arranged on the land plot located either on the settlement territory or beyond its borders.
Settlement Land: Characteristics and Principles of Use
Plots of land in Russia with the settlements located on them are separated from all the other categories. Depending on the number of people living in their territory, Russian settlements are divided into two large groups – rural and urban. Settlement lands in their turn are also subdivided into several categories. This division is made in accordance with the Town Planning Code, which permits the use of each specific plot of land for a certain purpose only:
- residential buildings construction;
- office space and entertaining facilities construction;
- industrial facilities construction;
- transport lines and utilities location;
- recreational use;
- agricultural purposes;
- military complex buildings construction;
- plots of a special purpose.
Industrial Land: Characteristics and Principles of Use
The legislation of the Russian Federation determines the location of industrial complex plots, which should be situated outside the settlements. Industrial land is used for the erection of manufacturing facilities or administrative buildings. However, the following constructions may also be located on it:
- power facilities, primarily the nuclear ones;
- highways and road junctions;
- mining industry facilities;
- military and defense constructions;
- plants, factories and other manufacturing facilities.
Industrial land in Russia may be possessed by individuals, state or municipal bodies or organizations. Such plots of land may become a subject of transactions in the civil legal sphere. Some nuances of purchasing of an industrial land plot as well as calculating of its value may be found in the article “Factors Determining the Price of Land in Russia”.
Protected Natural Territories: Peculiarities
The areas acquire a status of the protected ones if they are characterized by a certain value. To such lands may refer those ones, which are significant in cultural, historical, recreational, scientific, or aesthetic terms: various monuments, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, recreational areas, cultural and historical heritage objects. However, none of them may be transformed into a subject of commercial transactions. The vast majority of these territories in the Russian Federation belong to a state property.
Forests, Water Basins, and National Reserve Lands
The Russian forest fund consists of all the forests and forestries. Water basins together with all the constructions erected for their proper utilization make up the territories of water fund. The plots of land owned by the state or the local authorities, which are not in use by enterprises or private farms, are called the national reserve land.
It should be noted that a category of land may be changed. In fact, the decision of transferring a plot of land from one to another category of use is a prerogative of the Russian government or other authorities, including the local ones, depending on the landowner and the category the land plot currently belongs to.