The Cabinet of Ministers has resumed the possibility of buying and selling real estate in most regions of Ukraine. However, with reservations adopted under martial law.
With the outbreak of a wide-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the work of registers, the holder of which is the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, was stopped to protect data.
Recently, access to some registers has been restored, as well as the features of notarial activities and the functioning of unified and state registers in the conditions of martial law has been determined. However, access to some registers was restored only in a certain part of the territory, singling out the regions where hostilities continue.
The real estate market during wartime: What risks and restrictions are there
In addition to the opening of registers, the government recently determined the features of notarial activities and the functioning of state registers during wartime, which determined the features of the market during the war.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the government decree, firstly, regulates key issues on the admission of notaries, who must pass an internal audit of the Notary Chamber of the Ministry of Justice. These refers to persons who conscientiously performed their duties delegated by the state and have never been held accountable for any disciplinary responsibility.
According to Ihor Fris, MP and member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy, risky actions during wartime are related to the difficulty of identifying the dead.
"Risky actions are related, for example, to the difficult identification of the dead. And the civil registry, where deaths are recorded, is not updated as quickly as we would like. Given this, it was forbidden to certify real estate alienation deals on the basis of a power of attorney. Because we cannot be sure that the person who gave the power of attorney is alive," the deputy explained.
Ihor Fris considers the extension of inheritance acceptance to be another of the safeguards against risky deals. Not every person can apply to a notary and submit an application within 6 months. Considering this, the right to obtain a certificate of the inheritance right was also stopped.
According to lawyer Tetiana Kozachenko, one of the most important safeguards adopted on the market is the ban on seizing citizens' property during the war on the basis of corresponding registration procedures, such as satisfying the requirements of the mortgagee, when banks seized property in an indisputable manner.
Key differences of market functioning between wartime and peacetime:
- transactions with property are currently not made in all regions,
- only notaries approved by the list of the Ministry of Justice will have permission to carry out property transactions,
- purchased apartments cannot be sold within a month after obtaining the rights,
- prohibition to certify real estate alienation transactions on the basis of a power of attorney,
- prohibition to seize property under a mortgage loan,
- extension of the inheritance acceptance period.
List of districts and regions without access to state registers: Property transactions are prohibited
Recently, the Cabinet of Ministers also established a list of subnational entities within which users' access to unified and state registers, held by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, is terminated under martial law:
- Donetsk region;
- Zaporizhzhia region:
- Berdiansk district;
- Vasylivka district;
- Melitopol district;
- Polohy district;
- Luhansk region;
- Mykolaiv region
- Bashtanka district;
- Voznesensk district (except for the villages of Domanivka, Bratske, and the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk);
- Mykolaiv district (except for the city of Mykolaiv);
- Kharkiv region:
- Bohodukhiv district (except for the cities of Valky, Bohodukhiv, and Krasnokutsk);
- Izium district;
- Kupiansk district;
- Kharkiv districtn (except for the city of Merefa, the village of Nova Vodolaha, and the city of Kharkiv);
- Chuhuiv district (except for the city of Zmiiv);
- Kherson region;
- Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.
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