Registration of land plot ownership

Land ownership registration documents Kyiv.

On January 01, 2013, the long-awaited Law of Ukraine «On the State Land Cadastre» finally came into force, which introduced a number of changes in the field of land relations and, in particular, in the procedure for formalizing ownership rights to a land plot at various stages.

Prior to the changes in the legislation, the right of ownership to land, as well as the right of permanent use of a land plot, arose for the owner upon receipt of the State Act.

Many citizens have learned from their own experience that obtaining a State Act for land can take years.

According to the innovations, now the certificate of ownership of a land plot (“State Act”) is issued only upon the initial allocation of the land plot.

Today the right of ownership to land is acquired only after the state registration of the title document. That is, if you received ownership of a land plot allocated for the first time, then you need to obtain  the certificate of ownership of the land plot (“State Act”) and register it.  The certificate of ownership of a land plot (“State Act”) is also issued in the case of disposal of part of a land plot, if the part is allotted in kind.

If the right of ownership to land is transferred as a result of a civil-law transaction (sale, gift, exchange), or by inheritance, the title document is considered to be the contract or the certificate of the right to inheritance. In that case, a note is made on the State Act about the transfer of ownership, and it is mandatorily attached to the title document.

Although the legislative changes have simplified the procedure for formalizing ownership rights, they have simultaneously introduced some confusion during the transition period. Many authorities involved in the registration process in practice could not divide competencies, which leads to numerous refusals to perform necessary actions. There are also inconsistencies in the norms of legislation in the field of land relations, since not all subordinate acts meet the requirements of the new laws.

All the innovations were made so that the registration of a land plot would become a more transparent procedure, the results of which are mandatorily reflected in the land cadastre and state registers. Moreover, the timeframes of this procedure should be reduced.

But the processing of land documents still involves visiting several offices, which have constant queues and a lack of publicly available instructions on the correct completion of documents and the sequence of actions.

Our company provides consulting on land issues to its clients, taking into account many years of practical experience in solving problems arising in the registration of property rights to land.