Real Estate & Construction

Hereditary transferring of land plot titles has its specific features.  Moreover, this is the only way a foreign citizen can became a land owner in Belarus.

Acceptance of an inheritance is associated with addressing a notary and the registrar, registration of documents for the land plot. Qualified legal assistance may help the client avoid such unexpected obstacles as incorrect filling out of documents and omission of the time limit for accession to the heirship.

The loss of title-setting documents for land plots can bring many problems to the land user, starting from the impossibility to register any deal regarding such plot and finishing with cases of inspections of supervisory authorities.

Recovery of such documents sometimes demands long interaction with registrars and is often associated with the need to submit the proof of the client’s titles for land plots. Arzinger and Partners know all details and peculiarities of this process and will help recover all the necessary documents as quickly as it is possible.

Disputes on land plots include setting the procedure of using the land plot by third parties, easement registration, forfeiture of the land plot from ownership of third parties, setting new borders between land plots, and their resolution is not always evident. The lawyer’s task is to help determine and claim the rights of the legal user or enforce performance of third parties’ duties.

Disputes associated with real estate property can often be very sensitive for their parties, as the non-prevailing party is deprived of the titles for its land plot, real estate facility or unfinished construction facility and, therefore, all funds invested in it, as a rule.

Arzinger Law Offices experts will help the client settle the dispute as early as at the stage of the counterparty’s claims, and will ensure secure protection of the client’s interests with the minimum financial expenses in case of litigation.

Obtaining a land plot is the first and one of the most important stages of investment activities. It is extremely important to specify such issues as the location and dimensions of the land plot, the limits and the term of its use at the very first stage of interaction with governmental bodies to avoid negative consequences in future.

Arzinger Law Offices will take on negotiations with governmental bodies until the very moment of taking the resolution of the land plot allocation and conclusion of the land plot lease/sale and purchase agreement.

Land use is associated with multiple nuances: the activity must be performed strictly within the borders of the land plot allocated and only in accordance with the purpose specified in the lease agreement and the resolution of the executive committee, restrictions set for certain protected zones must be observed, etc.

Arzinger Law Offices will perform complete expertise of the client’s documents for the land plot and will help reveal all risks and other important features that must be considered in the course of using the land.

Sometimes, land users do not register their titles for land plots for a long time for various reasons. With that, the continue using the plots and perform construction activities at them. If a land plot is inspected by supervisory authorities, unauthorized preoccupation of the land plot threatens such consequences for the land user as high tax burden and the demand to demolish the real estate facilities built at the plot.

Lawyers will help the client prevent the negative consequences and timely register their titles for the land plot with all the necessary authorities.

The assistance in determination of the package of documents required for conclusion of the lease agreement with consideration of the procedure selected (participation in the auction, addressing the executive body for land plot allocation), interaction with the land improvement service to register the statement of the land plot selection.

Moreover, lawyers will help in developing and concluding the land plot lease agreement with the maximum protection of the client’s interests as well. Land plot lease is often accompanied with additional expenses for the lessee, which the latter learns only at the stage of signing the agreement. For example, the payment for the right to conclude the lease agreement is a surcharge for the lessee.

Lease of an office, warehouse, trading facility is literally the starting point of any business.

Complications often arise when the tenant neither pays nor releases the premises or, vice versa, when the lessor blocks entry to the office. The lawyer’s task is to use the protective mechanisms in the agreement that will allow taking urgent measures to protect the interests before addressing the court. Insurance, security payment are only some of the measures successfully taken by lessors.

An important component of a successful deal is negotiations with the counterparty regarding the deal and explaining the risks and the ways to prevent negative consequences to the client and the other party.

Legal audit helps reveal many hidden risks for the purchaser: if all the necessary permits for land have been obtained timely, if the title-setting documents are registered correctly, which restrictions there are to use land plot, whether the latter is in the protected zone.

Lawyers will help understand the entire history of the land plot creation, obtaining permits for its use and legal registration.

Lawyers advise the client of which documents on the land plot or real estate property must the title holder have before making the transaction and which documents must be additionally verified.

Prior to transaction registration, it is important to verify the legal status of the real estate property and the land plot, if they are the seller’s property, if they are pledged.

The check will prevent the client’s purchasing from a person that has no titles for the real estate facility or powers to perform such transaction and help avoid purchasing the real estate facility with restrictions of sale. Legal registration of the transaction makes it impossible to dispute the acquisition in future.

Advising and elimination of risks at conclusion of agreements, support of transactions with real estate facilities (pledging, sale and purchase, lease).

The most popular clients’ requests are registration of amendments and disputable issues in agreements, selection of safe solutions. Here is the example when the seller’s and the purchaser’s risks are eliminated with staged performance of the agreement: step 1 – partial payment, step 2 – notary registration of the agreement, step 3 – final settlement, step 4 – state registration.

In case there are several owners or users of one real estate facility (an office, a warehouse, an apartment, etc.), the question arises on how to manage the joint property.

Owners must determine the way the joint property will be maintained, the amount of expenses, and how the latter are to be paid.

Firstly, one must clearly determine the composition of the joint property. Secondly, the share of each owner must be determined. Thirdly, the owners must decide on distribution of expenses between them.

The lawyer’s task is not only answering all these questions but also clear registration of mutual understanding between the owners in an agreement, legal determination of the terms of participation of each owner.

Construction, sale and purchase, transfer by gift, pledging, and any other deed with real estate property demands state registration.

The registration procedure includes multiple subtypes depending on the facility, transaction nature, specific features of the owner. Each registration type is accompanied with collection of documents under a separate list.

The lawyer’s task is to advise the client of the consequences of registration, of the risks associated with non-performing the registration, of its cost and terms, and, most importantly, of the documents required for it.

If it is necessary to suspend construction of a facility or close down the facility temporarily, we will help register all the required documents, coordinate the procedure with governmental bodies, and, if necessary, hold negotiations with the investor and the contractor, develop and register additional agreements to contracts with them.

If you start construction in Belarus, you are to complete it within the stated term.

If you expect not to be on time to complete your project within the coordinated terms for any reason, we will develop the legal and contractual documents required for prolongation of the terms, hold negotiations (including negotiations with governmental bodies) and register the updated agreements.

Lawyers can register legal relations with subcontractors, advise on the agreement performance issues, properly register acceptance of construction works performed, and, if necessary, terminate the agreement and engage another subcontractor, as well as resolve other issues that arise in the course of work on the project.

We recommend taking into consideration not only interests of the two parties but also the potential problems in project implementation when developing an agreement. It will help end disputes and continue working.

Remember that each new agreement means a new counterparty, hence, new risks. We recommend using individually developed agreement, and the role of our experts is indispensable in this case. For example:

• One must clearly determine the pricing mechanism and the contractual price composition in the agreement.
• It is necessary to determine the procedure and the terms of provision construction design documents, supply of construction materials, as well as the responsibilities of the parties for non-performance of these obligations, as well as the term and the procedure of revising the terms of construction.
• It is also necessary to determine the procedure of making amendments to the terms and the procedure of the project implementation, distribution of responsibility between the parties in this case.
• Finally, it is important to determine the procedure of acceptance of the works performed, unused construction materials, procedure of releasing the construction site on completion of works, etc.
  

All these seemingly simple things often turn out to be quite complex. That is why it is better to engage professional for development of the construction contract agreement.

According to our experience, many disputes between the contractor and the customer arise because the contractor receives the design documents that do not conform the design basis or the design documents that have not passed the state expertise in accordance with the procedure established.  Such disputes cause overrunning the deadlines for implementation of projects.

An alternative: to approve and register design documents with assistance of lawyers.

Taking into consideration the degree of the designer’s influence on the terms of implementation of a construction project and on the building commissioning success, we recommend treating this issue particularly carefully. A proper agreement for design works will be the quality guarantee of the future design documents. High-quality design documents are the prerequisite of the minimum number of disputes between the customer and the construction contractor.

We will help you develop the agreement that ensures that the designer clearly realizes the customer’s requirements, and the customer clearly realizes what it will have to pay for.

To perform construction in Belarus legally, it is importatnt to verify that your conterparty (general contractor, subcontractor, supplier of works and equipment) meets the established requirements as well. Unless you do it, you can face the risk of overrunning the project implementation schedule, continuous checks by governmental bodies and other problems.

We will verify the following for you: partner’s solvency, observance of the law (particularly of the tax law) by it, availability of enforcement proceedings against it, availability of debts to the budget, as well as availability of the documents required to perform construction activities (certificate of conformity of a construction organization).

If third parties’ funds (funds of banks, investors, equity holders) are raised for implementation of a project, determination of the terms of funding is not less important than determination of the terms of cooperation with the contractor.

Arzinger’s experience in raising external funds for projects (including foreign banks, such as the BGK) may be useful. The lawyers’ part will be in holding negotiations with the bank and investors, in developing the required agreements including security agreements, representation of interests during negotiations.

Permit documents are a must to arrange construction activities: the resolution of forfeiture and allocation of a land plot, technical specifications for engineering and technical support of facilities, the notice of commencement of construction and installation works, etc. Moreover, construction works must be performed on the basis of the design documents after passing the state expertise.

Correct and timely registration of permits and documents helps the client to avoid penalties and other sanctions, allows avoiding potential problems at further commissioning of the facility.

We will assist in obtaining the required permit documents for arrangement of design and construction.

A certificate of conformity is a must to render services in construction, design, and engineering in Belarus. A number of action must be performed and certain necessary documents must be developed to obtain it.  

We will prepare all documents to obtain qualification certificates for personnel, will assist in assessment of the production supervision system and to obtain certificates of conformity of construction works.

We will also help to create the occupational safety service and the production supervision system in the organization, to acquire the equipment required for certification, and will also take on all the functions for interactions with governmental bodies in the course of certification.