From hand to hand

On November 19, the State Duma adopted in the third, final reading the law “On the transfer to religious organizations of property for religious purposes that is in state or municipal ownership.”

345 deputies voted for the adoption of this law, 42 against.

From now on, property can be transferred by the relevant federal, regional or municipal authorities to religious organizations either for ownership or for free use for a certain period.

In this case, the transfer period cannot exceed two years from the date of adoption of a specific decision.

If residential premises are subject to transfer, citizens living in them must be provided with alternative housing in a timely manner.

The law lists all the information that must be included in the property transfer plan drawn up and approved by the authorized body of state or municipal government. In particular, information about the sources and amounts of financial support for measures to evict citizens from the residential premises they occupy and provide them with other housing.

The law guarantees the right of legal entities and individuals to appeal in court the decision of the authorized body on the transfer of property if these persons do not agree with such a decision. At the same time, the authorized body has the right to refuse to transfer the requested property to a religious organization, indicating the reasons. Such a refusal does not prevent the religious organization from re-submitting its application after eliminating these violations, but if the authorized body sees the root reasons why the object cannot be transferred to the religious organization, the case can be challenged in court.

The law establishes mandatory publicity of the process of transferring property to religious organizations. For this purpose, the authorized body is obliged to post on its website within a week the application of a religious organization accepted for consideration. The positive or negative decision of the authorized body must also be made public there.

The law stipulates that if state or municipal property claimed by a religious organization is leased to a third party, then such lease remains in force until the period specified in official documents.