How does land consolidation proceed, step by step? A complete guide for landowners

Once the initial comments have been resolved, the district office draws up the Allocation Plan in the form of a placement and setting-out plan together with the list of monetary settlements. This is the definitive proposal of what your new plots will actually look like and how much you will be paid if part of your entitlements is settled financially.

The common procedure for all owners

• Publication and delivery: The authority publishes the plan for 30 days at the customary place in the municipality and delivers it to the association of participants. To every owner whose address is known, it delivers a personal extract concerning their new plots (and, where applicable, an extract from the list of monetary settlements).
• Time limit for objections: If you disagree with the content, you have 30 days from the publication or delivery of the extract to file written objections. If no one files objections, the authority approves the plan outright.
• Discussion of objections: The authority must discuss the objections filed within 90 days with the association of participants and the affected owners. If you fail to attend the discussion without excuse (including at an alternative date), or if the objections cannot be resolved on the spot, the authority refers them for decision to the district office at the seat of the region.
• Time to defend yourself: In both types of proceedings (ordered and permitted), the authority strictly examines only whether the statutory criteria of adequacy (area, value, quality, access) have been observed. Other, subjective objections are disregarded.

The differing procedure depending on the type of land consolidation

At this stage, the process differs fundamentally according to the reason the land consolidation was initiated:

A) Consolidation permitted on the participants' initiative (§ 2(3))

These are voluntary or commercial consolidations (e.g. initiated by a group of farmers or a developer).

• The two-thirds majority requirement: The authority approves the plan only if it is consented to by owners holding at least two thirds of the area of all the affected land.
• Deemed consent: Beware of passivity. The state automatically counts you towards this two-thirds majority if you file no objection at all, or if the authority assesses your objection as unfounded.

B) Consolidation ordered by the state (§ 2(2))

These are consolidations in the public interest (e.g. for the construction of motorways, railways or waterworks, or for the wholesale reorganisation of fragmented inherited land in a municipality).

• No consent is sought: The consent of two thirds of the participants is not required here. The state approves the project even without a majority being reached, but only after the authority has officially discussed and disposed of the objections filed concerning non-compliance with the statutory adequacy requirements (area, value, location of the land).

How will you learn of the approval? Whether the consolidation is on the participants' initiative or ordered by the state, the authority always announces the definitive decision approving the allocation plan and the list of monetary settlements by public notice.

What exactly does this plan contain?

This document is the result of detailed work by surveyors and the land commission. It serves as the principal basis for the registration of the new rights in the Land Registry (kataster) and consists of two basic parts:

1. The Placement Plan (Graphical part): A precise map defining the shape, position and boundaries of your future parcels on the ground. It also contains data from the register of vegetation.
2. The Setting-Out Plan (Written part / Register of the New State): The technical basis for the surveyor, containing the precise coordinates of the future boundary points in the coordinate system. On the basis of these data, the surveyor can actually set out and stabilise the new boundaries directly on your new plot.

5. Implementation of the land consolidation project – The transition into reality

The turning point (Finality)

Once the allocation plan is approved, the whole process moves from paper directly onto the ground and into the Land Registry. This step represents the final conversion of the old ownership into the new.

A. Ordering implementation and the "freeze" on the Land Registry

• Notice to owners (the tax time limit): The district office officially orders implementation of the project and calls on you to notify it, within 60 days, of an important piece of information: exactly when 5 years elapsed (or will elapse) from your acquisition of your original land. This information is recorded against the new plot (it is crucial for the income-tax exemption on any future sale).
• Temporary freezing of the Land Registry: To avoid chaos in the records, at the authority's request the Land Registry administration suspends registrations (seals, transfers) in the territory concerned for 90 days before the planned approval. During this time, the authority reconciles and updates the register of the original state with the new plan.

B. "D-Day": Extinction of the old land and creation of the new ownership (§ 14(5))

This is the most important moment of the entire proceedings. On the day the decision approving implementation of the project becomes final (or on the day specified in it):

• Your original plots cease to exist.
• You automatically acquire ownership and other rights in rem (e.g. liens or easements) to the new plots, or a right to a monetary payment arises in your favour.
• The land consolidation is officially concluded as of that day.

An important procedural warning: The authority announces the decision approving implementation of the project by public notice. No appeal lies against this final decision! The only remaining defence against this decision is an administrative action before the courts.

C. What happens to leases and farming?

• The end of old leases: On the day this decision becomes final, all existing lease agreements relating to the original plots are automatically extinguished. New leases (e.g. with an agricultural cooperative) must then be concluded under the new rules and in respect of the new parcels.
• The transition timetable: The authority attaches to the order an agreed procedure for how and when farmers are actually to vacate the old parcels and start operating on the new ones.
• Earlier entry (the exception): If your entitlement to the new land is undisputed, you may ask the authority to allow you to farm the new plot in advance – as soon as the allocation plan is approved (even before the final conclusion of the whole project).

D. Why is the approved project so important?

The authority's decision and the new survey plan are the direct instrument on the basis of which the Land Registry issues the new title deeds. The project is definitively binding on all participants and serves as a mandatory basis for:

• The municipality's zoning planning (where the village will expand).
• Forest management programmes.
• Replacing decisions under building legislation: for the construction of common and public facilities (such as new access roads, anti-erosion dykes or polders), the approved land consolidation project directly replaces the decision on the withdrawal of agricultural land and the release of forest land. At the same time, it serves as a direct basis for construction without the need to go through separate permitting processes at the building authority.

6. Realisation on the ground

Stakes, roads and actual use.

Only after "D-Day", once the new plots have been registered in the Land Registry in accordance with the allocation plan (or immediately beforehand, during preparation of the survey plan), does attention shift definitively to the ground. Surveyors physically set out and stabilise the boundary points of the new parcels (driving stakes directly into the ground) in accordance with the allocation plan drawn up in the form of a survey plan or a renewed cadastral map. At the same time, the implementation of technical and ecological measures begins – new access field roads are built, and drainage channels and anti-erosion strips are constructed. From this moment on, you begin to use your land in a real and modern way.

💡 How does the state technically record the new state in the Land Registry? Depending on the size of the project, the state chooses one of two instruments:

• The survey-plan form: Used for smaller territories (e.g. simplified land consolidation for a development project), where the new parcels are drawn into the existing map.
• Renewal of the cadastral documentation by new mapping: Used for large projects (e.g. comprehensive land consolidation across a whole municipality). The old, inaccurate cadastral map is completely replaced by a new, modern digital map of the entire municipality.

Is land consolidation coming to your municipality, and do you want to be sure you will not lose the value of your property?

Land consolidation is a complex and time-consuming process in which missing a single statutory deadline is enough for the compensation for your land to fall short of its true value. Do not wait for the authority to decide about you without you. A legal review at the start of the process can save you property worth thousands of euros.

Do you have questions about ongoing land consolidation in your municipality? Write to us or give us a call.