Buying land in Ukraine: how to verify the owner and not lose money

When purchasing land for housing construction, one of the key issues is to verify ownership rights.

The buyer should find out who owns the land, what its intended use is, whether it has a cadastral number, and whether there are any restrictions on its use or legal disputes.

Information about the land plot is contained in state registers.

There you can find data on the owner, land category, intended use, plot area, property rights of third parties, as well as information on the presence or absence of current restrictions on its use.

The Ministry of Justice advises starting the check with the cadastral number.

First of all, you need to find out if the land plot has been assigned a cadastral number.

This can be done on the public cadastral map of Ukraine, using the search by settlement or plot coordinates.

You can obtain this information from the land owner or check it yourself.

With the help of the public cadastral map, you can also determine the type of ownership of the land plot, its intended use and area.

It should be noted that without a cadastral number, it is impossible to perform any legal action regarding the land plot today.

That is why land owners who have not yet been assigned a cadastral number are advised to contact the nearest land management documentation developer.

You can separately check information about ownership and other property rights to a land plot through the State Geocadastre web portal.

The information generated on this resource provides the normative monetary valuation of the plot, registered restrictions on use, and ownership rights.

At the same time, it should be noted that information about the owner at this stage is for reference only.

All relevant information is contained in the State Register of Property Rights to Real Estate.

Information from this register allows you to check who owns the land plot, when it was acquired, and on what grounds.

This register also allows you to find out whether any other rights to real estate are registered, apart from ownership rights.

This includes, in particular, the right of lease, easement, emphyteusis or superficies.

In addition, the register can be used to check whether there are any encumbrances on the plot, such as seizure, prohibition of alienation or mortgage.

At the same time, it should be noted that the State Register of Rights currently lacks some information about rights to land plots that arose before 2013.

That is why owners who acquired property rights to land before this period are advised to take care of their "digitisation".

This provides better protection against fraud.

You can also check a land plot separately by its cadastral number in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

This method allows you to find out whether the ownership of the land plot has been challenged, whether there are boundary disputes, whether it is under arrest, and whether it has been mortgaged.

The article also reminds readers that every Ukrainian citizen has the right to receive a land plot from the state free of charge.

However, this option is prohibited during the period of martial law.

It is also noted that the process of obtaining a land plot is completed by its registration in the State Register of Property Rights.

However, in such a procedure, refusals are possible if there are other claimants to the plot.