Attachments
The Protection Cluster’s Legal Aid Working Group has identified key legal issues and updates for February 2025, based on analyzing member-provided and open-source information.
Housing, Land and Property Rights Issues
1. Requirement for a paid certificate to terminate ownership due to property destruction. In Hlukhiv Hromada (Sumy Oblast), state registrars require a paid certificate from the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI) with subsequent registration in the Unified State Electronic System in the Field of Construction to confirm property destruction instead of the free commission inspection acts. The cost of this certificate ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 UAH.
2. Use of drones for assessing damaged/destroyed housing. Some commissions (e.g., in Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv Oblasts) use drones to assess damaged or destroyed homes in hard-to-reach areas. While this facilitates compensation access, some commissions improperly ask homeowners or humanitarian organizations to purchase drones as a prerequisite for assessment of the damaged/destroyed housing to draft an assessment certificate.
3. Compensation barriers for housing owned by children. The “Diia” application does not allow compensation requests for damaged/destroyed housing owned by children. Administrative Services Centers and private notaries in Kyiv also refuse such applications, citing the need for parental approval from guardianship authorities.
4. Blocked use of ‘eRecovery’ funds in the areas of active hostilities. In parts of Kharkiv and Sumy Oblasts, housing repair funds received through the “eRecovery” program remain unused due to escalating hostilities. Repair works cannot be carried out, and in some cases, previously damaged housing for which compensation for repair works was obtained had already been destroyed before repairs could start. Those concerned have funds on their accounts that cannot be spent and are concerned that the funds will have to be returned to the state, and they will not be able to receive this [unused] compensation again to restore their damaged housing.
5. Inheritance issues for housing compensation. The inheritance of housing compensation is faced with significant challenges related to the absence of clear regulations:
- Notaries – Lack of guidelines on how notaries should handle compensation rights when the original recipient has passed away.
- Compensation Commissions – Unclear procedures for processing claims in cases where the compensation recipient has died.
- The "Diia" Application – Technical limitations prevent heirs from continuing or finalizing the compensation process through the digital platform.