A comparative analysis of the principles of the cadastre in the most developed countries and in Russia. It is shown that some of the principles of cadastre, it is advisable to introduce into the Russian legislation. Such principles include the principle of Renzenberger, as well as the principles of Ruoff and Kuranda. The Russian inventory has more than twenty years, however, it cannot be considered complete, as registered in cadastre only 60 % of real estate. Full filling of the cadastre information on real estate is possible, if we abandon the application of the principle of reference. Unlike foreign domestic inventory the inventory contains errors that complicate the procedure of registration of immovable property. In addition, the domestic inventory is not the only source of information about the property that causes the ambiguity of the information about the same object. Important is also that the damage caused inaccurate inventory information bona fide buyer or seller of real property under current law, does not exceed one million rubles, regardless of the value of the lost object. Foreign inventory recognizes the property owner the main participant of the changes, however, the Russian legislation allows for the adjustment of the information object without the application of the property owner. See principles of the foreign inventory is useful for the maintenance of the national cadastre. This will simplify the process of state cadastral accounting of real estate, reduce the time of its formation and to increase the reliability of materials of the Unified state register of real estate.