Legal Aid Bulletin for November-December 2024 [EN/UK]

The Protection Cluster’s Legal Aid Working Group identified the following legal issues and updates in November-December 2024 based on an analysis of information provided by its members1,2 and gathered from open sources.

Housing, land and property issues

1. Status of a land plot in connection with obtaining a housing certificate for destroyed housing. There is an increasing number of applications on the status of a land plot during the termination of ownership of real estate, in connection with obtaining a housing certificate (compensation) for a destroyed residential building. The current legislation does, however, not require to renounce ownership of land when receiving compensation for destroyed housing in the form of a housing certificate.

2. Use of land plots for defense functions. The number of applications for compensation for land plots currently used for the construction of fortifications has increased significantly. Often, the legislative procedure for forced alienation under martial law is not applied to such property. Therefore, although the owner retains ownership of the property, he cannot use it for its intended purpose. In addition to the impossibility of using the land plot and the difficulty of receiving compensation for its use, the owner remains obliged to pay land tax to the local budget. Therefore, local authorities should review the approach to paying the specified tax in such cases.

3. Inability of the commission to inspect damaged housing due to the security situation. In some frontline Hromadas, in particular in Kharkiv and Chernihiv Oblasts, commissions to inspect damaged housing cannot arrive at the site and draw up a report on the degree of damage due to the security situation. As a result, in such cases, they suspend the consideration of applications. However, there is no legal basis for suspending the consideration of an application for this reason.

4. Incorrect application of the terms for accepting inheritance by state notaries. In Lviv Oblast, the incorrect application of the terms for accepting inheritance by state notaries has been observed. This concerns inheritance cases opened after the death of testators in the occupied territory. Notaries do not apply the provisions of clause 20 of the Final and Transitional Provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine and calculate the six-month term for accepting inheritance not from the date of state registration of death, as provided for in the Code, but from the date of death of a person in the occupied territory. This means that those concerned have the take legal action through the judiciary to exercise their inheritance rights.

5. Obstacles to property registration due to limited capacity of state registrars. In various raions of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (most notably in Pavlohrad), internally displaced persons (IDPs) receive verbal refusals from state registrars to register property rights in the State Register of Property Rights (SRPR).
   The main reason for such refusals is the reluctance of state registrars due to their high workload to file requests and receive certificates for clarification of the property status of applicants. Applicants are verbally offered to collect these documents themselves to provide to state registrars, which creates obstacles for IDPs in registering property rights to damaged/destroyed housing and the possibility of receiving compensation.

6. Compensation for damaged/destroyed housing in occupied territories. On 19.12.2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Law No. 111613 , which, under certain conditions, provides for the possibility of receiving compensation by owners of damaged or destroyed housing located in occupied territories. The law is awaiting the President's signature before it enters into force, and the mechanisms for its implementation and sources of funding have not yet been determined, but legal aid providers are already observing a significant number of applications due to the potential of receiving such compensation.

7. Custody of the property of a missing family member. The Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Status of Missing Persons” provides for the possibility of registering custody of the property of a missing family member under special circumstances. However, notaries often refuse to register such documents because this service is new and there is no approved procedure for it. At the same time, recognizing a person as deceased in court is only possible if there is no information about the person’s whereabouts for three years, and for those who disappeared during hostilities, declaring them deceased is possible only two years after the end of hostilities. Thus, family members cannot recognize a person as deceased in court to acquire the corresponding rights to property.

8. Compensation for housing that is a cultural heritage monument. On 04.12.2024, the Decision of the Odesa City Council stated that providing compensation to residents of damaged residential buildings that are recognized as cultural heritage monuments (there are approximately 130 such damaged buildings in Odesa) using the “eRecovery” program is not possible due to legislative restrictions. Firstly, CMU’s Resolution dated 19.04.2022 No. 473 does not apply to cultural heritage sites, as clearly stated in clause 2 of the Procedure. This does not allow for the proper documentation of damage in apartments, entry of this information into the Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property (RDDP) and receipt of appropriate compensation from the state. Secondly, the CMU’s Resolution dated 15.11.2022 No. 1342, which approves the Procedure for Carrying Out Certain Types of Work on Cultural Heritage Sites under Martial Law, does not regulate the procedure for obtaining compensation, but is exclusively technical in nature, allowing only to simplify the procedure for obtaining permits for carrying out work on monuments under martial law. During 2024, the Executive Committee of the Odesa City Council twice appealed to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine to resolve this issue by amending the aforementioned resolutions. However, as of December 2024, the necessary changes have not been made. In addition, there is a reported lack of relevant specialists who can inspect buildings that have the status of cultural heritage monuments