Now the information about the owner of real estate will be available when receiving the extract in respect of the object only if there is a special record in the Register about the right holder’s consent to the provision of his or her personal data to third parties. In the absence of such consent the information about the owner will be available through a notary. The amendments apply only to the owners that are natural persons and sole entrepreneurs, while the data on the owners that are legal entities will remain public.

According to the amendments, as a general rule, third parties may receive the extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate only subject to the right holder’s consent to disclose such information, which is shown in the Register as a special record inserted at the right holder’s request. This request may be submitted in respect of all objects owned by the right holder (including objects acquired in the future) or in respect of one or more specific objects.

Regardless of the presence of such record, the right holder’s personal data will still be provided to his or her spouse, co-owners, the right holders of adjacent land plots, tenants and other persons indicated by law. Furthermore, it will be also possible to retrieve data from the Register through a notary on the basis of a joint application of the right holder and the interested person if they need this information for a real estate transaction. Data will also be shared by notaries on the basis of a written application of a person who needs such information to protect his or her rights and legitimate interests. If the notary refuses to provide the necessary information, the refusal can be challenged in the court (Federal Law No. 266-FZ dated 14 July 2022).

The stated purpose of the amendments is the protection of personal data. For this reason, the amendments only affect information in respect of natural persons and sole entrepreneurs. The amendments will not affect legal entities, which will still be publicly shown as owners of real state in the Register and in publicly accessible extracts (see Letter of Rosreestr dated 03 March 2023 No. 06-00307/23@).