Notarial Procedure and Legal Registration in Russia
Overview of the Russian Notarial System
The Russian notarial system, governed by the Fundamentals of Legislation of the Russian Federation on the Notariat (approved by the Supreme Soviet on 11 February 1993, as subsequently substantially amended), establishes the notary as a public official entrusted with the exercise of state functions in the sphere of legal certification. The Russian notariat operates on a mixed public-private model: state notaries (gosudarstvennye notariusy) work in state notarial offices funded by the state budget, while private notaries (chastnye notariusy) operate as self-employed professionals under state supervision, organised through the Federal Notarial Chamber (Federalnaya notarialnaya palata) and regional notarial chambers. Both categories of notary exercise identical notarial functions and are subject to the same professional standards, though private notaries have become predominant since the 1993 reforms, accounting for the vast majority of notarial acts. The notary’s function is to certify, authenticate, and attest to the legality of juridical acts, to verify the legal capacity of parties, to ensure that transactions comply with the law, and to maintain notarial archives. Notaries are required to have a higher legal education, complete an internship, pass a qualifying examination, and obtain a license. The number of notarial positions in each region is determined by the Ministry of Justice in consultation with the Federal Notarial Chamber.
Notarial Acts and Their Legal Force
Notaries perform a wide range of notarial acts established by the Fundamentals on the Notariat. The most significant categories include: (1) certification of transactions (udostovernie sdelok), including real estate purchase and sale contracts, gifts, exchanges, and annuities; (2) certification of powers of attorney (doverennosti), including general powers of attorney, special powers of attorney for specific transactions, and “irrevocable” powers of attorney introduced by the 2013 civil law reforms; (3) certification of wills (zaveshchaniya) and the revocation of wills, with the notary responsible for verifying the testator’s capacity and the compliance of the will with formal requirements; (4) certification of marriage contracts (brachnye dogovory) and spousal consent agreements; (5) certification of consent to transactions (soglasiya), including the consent of a spouse to the disposition of jointly owned property and the consent of parents or guardians to transactions involving minors; (6) certification of copies and extracts from documents, a routine but numerically significant function; (7) certification of the authenticity of signatures on documents; and (8) certification of the time of presentation of documents. Notarised documents have enhanced evidentiary weight (povyshennaya dokazatelnaya sila): a notarised transaction is presumed valid, and the burden of rebutting the certificate of authentication falls on the party challenging it. Notarial acts are executed on unified forms with serial numbers and are recorded in the Unified Information System of the Notariat (EIS Notariat), an electronic database that enables verification of notarial acts and prevents fraud.
Mandatory Notarial Certification
Russian law has progressively expanded the categories of transactions requiring mandatory notarial certification (obyazatelnaya notarialnaya forma). The 2013–2014 reforms to Part I of the Civil Code and subsequent amendments by Federal Law No. 172-FZ (2016) significantly broadened the scope of mandatory notarisation. Transactions requiring notarial certification by law now include: (1) real estate sale and purchase contracts involving the sale of shares in common ownership (dolevaya sobstvennost), including the sale of a share in a jointly owned apartment or residential property; (2) real estate transactions involving minors and incapacitated persons; (3) annuity contracts (dogovory renty), including permanent and life annuities; (4) marriage contracts (brachnye dogovory); (5) agreements on the division of common property of spouses (section 38 of the Family Code); (6) wills (except for closed wills and wills made in extraordinary circumstances); and (7) powers of attorney for transactions requiring notarial certification. The 2016 expansion made notarisation compulsory for transactions relating to real estate owned by several persons, effectively requiring notarial certification for the majority of secondary market residential real estate transactions. The stated policy objectives of expanding mandatory notarisation include reducing the incidence of real estate fraud, ensuring the legal purity of transactions, and protecting vulnerable parties, particularly the elderly and minors.
The Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN) and Rosreestr
The Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) is the federal executive body responsible for state registration of rights to immovable property and transactions with it, the maintenance of the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN) , and the state cadastral registration of real estate. The EGRN, established by Federal Law No. 218-FZ “On State Registration of Real Estate” (13 July 2015), consolidates the previously separate systems of rights registration (EGRP) and cadastral registration (GKN) into a single, unified database containing information about all registered real estate in the Russian Federation. The EGRN contains information about the property (cadastral number, address, area, purpose), the registered rights and encumbrances, the owners, and the history of transactions. Registration in the EGRN is the sole legal basis for the existence and transfer of rights to immovable property: ownership, easements, mortgages, and other property rights arise only upon state registration, and transactions that are subject to registration are not valid until registered. The EGRN is accessible online through the Rosreestr portal, which provides extracts (vypiski) containing information about the property, its owners, and any encumbrances, though access to personal data is limited to protect privacy.
The Registration Procedure and the “One Window” System
State registration of rights to real estate is initiated by an application from the right holder, the parties to a transaction, or a notary who has certified the transaction. Since 2016, notaries who certify real estate transactions are generally required to submit the documents for state registration electronically, and the registration must be completed within one working day (compared to the general period of 5–12 working days for applications filed by individuals). The applicant must provide the necessary documents, including the notarised transaction document, proof of payment of the state duty (gosudarstvennaya poshlina), and identification documents. The Multifunctional Centres (MFC) operating under the “My Documents” system serve as intermediaries for the submission and receipt of registration documents, implementing the “one window” (odno okno) principle whereby citizens and businesses can submit documents for a wide range of public services, including real estate registration, through a single point of contact without having to interact directly with Rosreestr. The MFC transmits documents to Rosreestr, monitors the status of the application, and returns the registered documents to the applicant. The registration period runs from the date of submission of documents, and the Rosreestr official conducts a legal examination (pravovaya ekspertiza) of the submitted documents to verify their compliance with legal requirements.
Time Limits and Fees for State Registration
The state duty for registration of rights to real estate is established by Article 333.33 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. For individuals, the duty is 2,000 roubles (approximately US $25) for registration of ownership rights, while for legal entities the duty is 22,000 roubles. Reduced fees apply for registration of rights to agricultural land, garages, and certain other categories. The general time limit for state registration is seven working days from the date of submission of documents to Rosreestr (or nine working days if documents are submitted through an MFC). Accelerated procedures with shorter time limits apply for electronically submitted documents (one working day) and for documents submitted through a notary (one working day). The registration period may be suspended for up to three months if the Rosreestr official identifies deficiencies in the submitted documents, and registration may be refused if the deficiencies are not remedied within the suspension period or if the transaction does not comply with the law. The refusal to register may be appealed to the Rosreestr appeal commission or to the court.
Electronic Registration and Digitalisation
The Russian legal system has significantly advanced the digitalisation of notarial and registration procedures. The Unified Information System of the Notariat (EIS Notariat) , operational since 2014, maintains a centralised electronic database of all notarial acts performed in the Russian Federation, enabling real-time verification of notarised documents, detection of fraud, and the retrieval of information on inherited property and ongoing notarial proceedings. Notaries are required to register all notarial acts in the EIS, and the system is accessible to courts, law enforcement agencies, and other authorised bodies. The EIS also operates a register of notarial acts that enables notaries to verify whether a testator has executed a will in another notarial office, preventing the problem of multiple conflicting wills. The Rosreestr electronic filing system enables submission of registration documents in electronic form with enhanced digital signatures. Federal Law No. 480-FZ (2019) introduced the possibility of performing certain notarial acts remotely (distantsionno), including the certification of transactions between parties located in different notarial districts, through a system of video conferencing and electronic document exchange.
Legal Consequences of Non-Compliance with Notarial and Registration Requirements
Failure to comply with mandatory notarial or registration requirements has serious legal consequences. A transaction that requires notarial certification but is not notarised is void (Section 163(3) of the Civil Code). The parties must return everything received under the void transaction (restitution), and the transaction produces no legal effects. Similarly, a transaction that requires state registration but is not registered is void ab initio: ownership does not pass, and the parties cannot rely on the transaction against third parties. The courts have consistently held that the lack of notarial certification or state registration cannot be cured by subsequent conduct or by a court order that does not address the procedural deficiency (Section 165 of the Civil Code does, however, permit a court to declare a transaction valid if a party has partially or fully performed under it and the other party has evaded notarisation or registration, but this remedy is exceptional). Notaries are professionally liable for damages caused by their failure to comply with legal requirements, and they are required to maintain liability insurance with a minimum coverage of 2 million roubles for private notaries. The Rosreestr is also liable for damages caused by unlawful refusal to register, unlawful suspension of registration, or the incorrect entry of information into the EGRN.