How land is being stolen from Ukrainians and what to do to protect your land

Commentary by Anastasiya Blindu, Partner at LESHCHENKO & PARTNERS, for the publication Minfin

Land theft is not an isolated phenomenon. And while the question of how to acquire and exercise their right to land is more or less clear to citizens, the question of how to protect their right to land remains acute. We will discuss this below.

How land plots are formed and registered

To begin with, in order to properly protect your ownership of a land plot, it must be registered in accordance with the law. Otherwise, other persons may take advantage of this “undefined” status of land and commit illegal actions with it. Proper registration of land ownership increases the chances and facilitates such protection.

In order for a land plot to become an object of civil rights, it must be formed and its rights registered in accordance with the procedure established by law.

Formation of a land plot means defining the land plot as an object of civil rights. The formation of a land plot involves determining its area, boundaries and entering information about it into the State Land Cadastre.

The formation of land plots is carried out:

• in the order of allocation of land plots from state and communal property;
• by dividing or merging previously formed land plots;
• by determining the boundaries of state or communal property land plots under land management projects; </
• through land inventory;
• under land management projects for the organisation of the territory of land shares;
• under approved comprehensive plans for the spatial development of the territory of territorial communities, master plans of settlements, detailed plans of the territory.

The formed land plots are subject to state registration in the State Land Cadastre. A land plot is considered to be formed from the moment it is assigned a cadastral number.

The last stage of registration of the right to a land plot is the entry of information on the ownership in the State Register of Real Property Rights.

What should heirs do

Somewhat more complicated are cases where people own and use land plots, but have not formalized their ownership. One example is inheriting land when people do not complete the entire inheritance procedure and do not formalize the right to land. This is especially true for agricultural land (shares).

Such heirs may find themselves in a situation where their land is recognized as an unclaimed share and transferred to other persons for use (for example, leased). In this case, such lessees will be illegally using someone else’s land, and the owners will have to defend their rights and return the land to themselves.

Owners of such land plots should also keep in mind the provisions of the Law “On the Procedure for Allocation of Land Plots in Kind (on the Ground) to Owners of Land Shares (Units)”. Article 13 of this Law stipulates that a land share (unit) for which no document certifying the right to it has been received, or a land share (unit) for which the right to it has been certified in accordance with the law, but which has not been allocated in kind (on the ground), is unclaimed.

If by January 1, 2028, the owner of an unclaimed land share or his/her heir has not registered the title to the land plot, he/she is deemed to have refused to receive the land plot.

Such an unclaimed land share, after its formation into a land plot on the basis of a court decision, is transferred to the communal ownership of the territorial community in which it is located in the order of recognition of the property as ownerless.

Thus, we advise such owners not to delay the proper registration of ownership of such land plots, as the procedure for the formation of such land plots and their registration is lengthy.

It is also common for the testator to start privatizing his land plot, but did not have time to complete it during his lifetime. Thus, heirs find themselves in a situation where local governments refuse to complete the privatization procedure. In this case, the heirs have the right to file a lawsuit with the court to recognize the right to complete privatization and obtain a state act of land ownership in the name of the heir. A positive court decision will allow to complete the privatization and obtain a certificate of inheritance to register the ownership of such land plot.

Dangerous situations and what to do about them

A potentially risky situation is when two different people own land plots that partially overlap each other. In other words, these are cases when one land plot actually exists within the boundaries of another.

In this case, the person whose land plot is not formed (it has not been assigned a cadastral number and is not registered in accordance with the procedure established by law) will have to defend his or her property rights. The easiest way is to settle this issue out of court by reducing the size of the neighbor’s land plot, otherwise, you will have to file a claim with the court.

Another example of land acquisition by persons is their division into two or more plots, or the merger of another person’s land plot with another. In such cases, other cadastral numbers are assigned to the plots (in fact, other land plots are formed), the right to them is registered in the names of other persons, and the rights of the rightful owners “disappear” from the registers. Such actions may even involve forgery of title documents to land plots.

However, even in such cases, the legal owners of land plots need to protect their rights to land, because the division or merger of land plots does not deprive them of the right to protection from such unfair and possibly even criminal actions (in case of forgery of land documents).

How to reduce the risks of losing land

All landowners should properly formalize their ownership and register it in accordance with the requirements of the current legislation, and not delay this procedure in order to reduce the risks of land seizure. Having the relevant land documents in hand, it is easier to protect your rights.

Owners of registered land plots should use an important tool to protect their rights. Thus, owners of real estate may file an application with the state registrar to prohibit registration actions with it.

In this case, if someone applies to the state registrar to register ownership of such property, the registration actions will be suspended.