Real Estate. 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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

If it is necessary to suspend construction of a facility or close down the facility temporarily,

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.