Since 2011, the profession “cadastral engineer” has been in great demand and popularity. Today it is impossible to conduct a single transaction or to perform a legally significant action with a land plot without this specialist.
What does he do?
The main duty of the cadastral engineer is boundary surveying, or more precisely, measuring the coordinates of the land. After measurements, the specialist determines the status and specifics of the land allotment, creates plans and instructions for them.
In addition, the engineer helps landowners or owners to collect all the required documents for registration or re-registration of the land. Land surveyors were previously engaged in this part of the work, therefore, in modern realities, the cadastral engineer has a very big responsibility, one might say, double, for two specialties. The correctness of the measurements and calculations will also determine the correctness of applying the data to the cadastral map and, as a result, the absence of any problems in the future with neighbors and state regulatory authorities.
The right to carry out activities
A cadastral engineer may carry out its activities solely on the basis of a valid qualification certificate.
In order to become a specialist, and then join a specialized SRO, the person concerned must meet a number of requirements:
- have Russian citizenship;
- get a higher profile education;
- have at least 2 years of work experience as an assistant to a cadastral engineer;
- Do not have outstanding convictions.
If an individual meets all the requirements, then he will first need to pass a theoretical exam to determine the required knowledge. By the way, the examination sheet consists of more than 2 thousand questions. After passing the exam, the engineer must conclude a contract for compulsory liability insurance. And most importantly, in order to join the SRO and carry out activities, the specialist should not be disqualified for violating the requirements and provisions of the current legislation on accounting for real estate.
Authorized Entities
The logical question is: how can a cadastral engineer carry out his professional activities? The legislation provides two possibilities:
- as an individual entrepreneur who, as they say, will work on free breads;
- as an employee of a legal entity.
Required Qualities
Naturally, in order to become a highly qualified specialist and avoid responsibility, a cadastral engineer must possess a number of professional and personal qualities. These include:
- responsibility;
- Analytical mind;
- scrupulousness;
- excellent memory;
- understanding of space.
In addition, in everyday work, an engineer will encounter many different people, and you can successfully communicate with them only if there is diplomacy and stress tolerance. Such a specialist should be able to defend his position, avoiding conflict.
An engineer must have enough knowledge in the field of urban planning, land and civil law in order to be able to give advice and defend his position. Knowledge of special devices and computer programs (AutoCAD, Kompas, Mapinfo) will be required.
Responsibilities
To avoid liability, the cadastral engineer is obliged at the first stage to make sure that the client has all the documents of title to the land. Without the availability of such documentation, there is no sense in the work of a specialist at all. At the second stage, measurement work begins, signs are set, and drawings and reports are prepared. The last stage is the filing of cadastral documentation for registration with state authorities.
Responsibility of a specialist
At the level of current legislation, there are three types of liability for errors and unlawful acts of the cadastral engineer. And also there is such a measure as the deprivation of a qualification certificate.
Certificate Cancellation
Administrative liability of a cadastral engineer occurs in the following cases:
- if received ¼ failures in the registration of technical documents on land;
- in case the state authorities made 10 or more decisions on elimination of errors for the last 3 years of the specialist’s activity (most often this relates to the procedure for determining boundaries).
The consideration of such cases and the revocation of the certificate is handled by the qualification commission. The cadastral engineer is deprived of the right to carry out activities for 2 years, although the specialist has the right to appeal such a decision in court.
Most often, according to the assurances of the head of the SRO, the affairs of young specialists aged 25 to 35 years get to the commission’s table. And this is due not only to lack of experience, but also to outdated equipment that is used to measure land. The danger is that in most cases these are individual entrepreneurs who do not conclude a contract of professional responsibility and do not independently register cadastral plots in state bodies. As a result, when the customer submits documents for registration, errors are detected, and there is no way for the cadastral engineer to be held accountable. It is possible that even it will be possible to register the land, but the mistakes made during the work of the engineer will come up later. For example, if a neighbor wants to sell his plot, it may turn out that there are overlays on the cadastral map, and they will have to be corrected.
Compensation for material damage
The liability of the cadastral engineer for the cadastral error may be in the form of compensation for property damage. The customer has the right to go to court and prove that the engineer made a mistake, demand compensation for the damage caused. If the engineer is an SRO, then this can be done through it. It is this organization that is responsible for its members and is called upon to resolve conflict situations.
Criminal penalty
At the legislative level, the cadastral engineer is criminally liable for deliberate misrepresentation of the information that is submitted to the state cadastral authorities, and if these acts resulted in large-scale damage. Responsibility may be:
- in the form of deprivation of the right to carry out activities for a period of 3 years;
- a fine of 100 to 300 thousand rubles may be imposed;
- deprivation of total income for a period of 1 to 2 years of work or wages for the same period;
- community service up to 360 hours.
All these provisions are spelled out in part 1 of article 170.2 of the Criminal Code. The second part provides for more serious liability for offenses that have caused particularly large damage.
Where can I get an education?
Despite the possible risk of bringing the cadastral engineer to justice, this profession is quite popular, a person with such an education will not sit idle and will always find a customer for himself.
In order to receive a suitable education, it is necessary to take a course of study at a secondary specialized or higher educational institution. The main thing is to choose the right specialization. This could be a faculty:
- land management;
- city cadastre;
- property management;
- cadastral real estate.
After obtaining a diploma, you will have to complete an internship for two years or work as an assistant cadastral engineer, and only after that you can pass a qualification exam.
The disadvantages and advantages of the profession
First of all, the disadvantages include a fairly long way to independent work, about 7 years.
The second minus is that the cadastral engineer bears responsibility not only administrative and property, but even criminal. Few such professions that suggest that for a mistake in the professional sphere will have to work on a voluntary basis or pay a large fine. In addition, there is a risk of certificate revocation.
The third minus - the engineer will need at least minimal knowledge in many areas of law and scrupulousness in the preparation of documents. It is clear that over time this will no longer seem difficult, but first you will have to try.
Turning to the pros, it should be noted that the most important thing is the demand for the profession. Every second owner of the land uses the services of cadastral engineers, and in the near future there is no tendency to decrease demand.
The second and no less important plus is a fairly high salary. Moreover, it does not matter at all whether the specialist will work as an employee or will work as an individual entrepreneur. And the third plus is the ability to work independently, having just issued an IP, choosing a convenient working time and suitable customers.
It can be concluded that even despite the risk of criminal liability, a cadastral engineer is an attractive and promising profession for which you can unlearn five years, run two years for a mentor and pass an exam. The main thing is to treat your duties with care and scrupulousness, and no responsibility will threaten. And the higher the professionalism, the more there will be customers and, as a result, money.