Changes in the procedure for registering land plots

Dmitry Novitsky, partner and head of the Real Estate and Construction practice at Borisenko & Partners, commented on the changes affecting land registration for Fakty newspaper.

1. What was the purpose of the decree on extraterritoriality in state registration of land plots? What does this mean?

The resolution introducing the principle of extraterritoriality in land registration was adopted to minimize corruption risks and ensure transparency in the actions of officials of the territorial offices of the State Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadastre when registering land plots. This means that another territorial office of the State Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadastre is randomly selected as the state cadastral registrar responsible for the state registration of the land plot.

According to the resolution, this is a pilot project to introduce the principle of extraterritoriality in the state registration of land plots. It approves a temporary procedure for interaction between the territorial offices of the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadastre for the duration of the pilot project to introduce the principle of extraterritoriality in the state registration of land plots. Specific amendments to existing regulations were also made for the duration of the pilot project.

It should be noted that at the time of comment, the adopted resolution had not yet been published on the official website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine; only the draft version is available on the State Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadastre website. Therefore, the final version of the resolution may differ.

2. Which lands, by intended purpose, does the new registration procedure apply to?

According to the pilot project, the principle of extraterritoriality of land registration extends to land plots regardless of their intended use.

The pilot project applies to land plots whose state registration is carried out under:

– land management projects for land allocation,
– technical land management documentation for establishing (restoring) land parcel boundaries in kind (on the ground),
– technical land management documentation for land inventory.

The pilot project does not apply to land parcels whose state registration is carried out based on:

– technical land management documentation for the division and consolidation of land parcels,
– technical land management documentation for establishing the boundaries of a portion of a land parcel subject to sublease or easement rights,
– other types of land management documentatio.

3. Why will the new land registration procedure only be in effect for two years?

According to the resolution, a pilot project is being implemented to introduce the principle of extraterritoriality in the state registration of land plots. Therefore, this regulatory act is not permanent. If it reduces the number of complaints and achieves its intended goals, it will be necessary to amend the Law of Ukraine “On the State Land Cadastre.” Only then will it be possible to talk about the permanent application of the extraterritorial principle in the state registration of land plots, as this issue is regulated by law.

4. How will land registration now proceed? In what order?

The resolution introduces the following document submission and land plot registration procedures:

1. Documents are submitted in person or by a representative to the territorial body of the State Geocadastre at the location of the land plot through the administrative services center. An application in electronic form with attached documents may be submitted via telecommunications by a certified land surveyor who is the developer of the relevant documentation.
2. On the day of receipt of an application for state registration of a land plot with the documents attached thereto, the state cadastral registrar of the territorial body of the State Geocadastre accepts the submitted documents and checks them for compliance with the requirements of the Procedure for maintaining the State Land Cadastre.
3. After receiving and registering the application with the attached documents in the State Land Cadastre, the State Land Cadastre software randomly determines another territorial body of the State Geocadastre, whose state cadastral registrar will carry out the state registration of the land plot.
4. The state cadastral registrar of the territorial body of the State Geocadastre, selected randomly by the software of the State Land Cadastre, carries out the appropriate actions and generates an extract or a decision on the refusal of state registration of a land plot in electronic form, certifying them with his qualified electronic signature. At the applicant’s request, he/she sends such information in the form of an electronic document to the address of the Internet page from which the application was submitted.
5. After completing the above steps, the State Land Cadastre software automatically returns the application with documents to the territorial body of the State Geocadastre at the place of their submission.The state cadastral registrar of the territorial office of Gosgeokadastre at the location of the land parcel prints out the application, extract, or decision to refuse state registration of the land parcel along with the prepared documents, signs the documents, affixes their signature with their seal, and forwards them to the appropriate administrative services center for issuance.

   The applicant can check the status of the development and the results of the application review through the official Gosgeokadastre website using the application number.

   The total timeframe for state registration of a land parcel by state cadastral registrars of territorial offices of Gosgeokadastre, based on the principle of extraterritoriality, should not exceed seven business days from the date of application registration.

   Therefore, the procedure for the applicant remains essentially unchanged, except for the application review timeframe and the ability to track the land parcel registration process.

   5. What documents are required to register a land plot?

   I. Required documents:

   To register a land plot with the state, you must submit:

   – an application in the prescribed form;
   – the original land management documentation, which forms the basis for the formation of the land plot;
   – land management documentation, which forms the basis for the formation of the land plot, in electronic form.

   This list is exhaustive.

   II. Document Requirements:

   Electronic land management documentation is certified by a qualified digital signature of the person who developed the land management project.

   Electronic land management documentation is produced in accordance with the following requirements:

   Image format – color;
   Resolution – 300 dpi;
   Color depth – at least 4 bits;
   Completed file format – PDF (with text content, not a scanned image);
   File size – no more than 3 megabytes.

   The quality of electronic land management documentation must ensure its contents are clearly legible.

   6. Does the form of transfer of ownership of land (purchase and sale, gift, inheritance, etc.) matter during registration?

   Land registration is the final stage of the process of establishing a land plot as an object of civil legal relations. It determines its area and boundaries, and enters information about it into the State Land Cadastre. This information is of a technical nature, such as a technical passport for a house. The legal status of the land plot is irrelevant in this procedure, including the method of transfer of ownership (purchase, sale, gift, inheritance, etc.).

   7. How much does land registration cost?

   State registration of a land plot itself is free, but the land management documentation required for its registration is prepared by the business entity, and the price is set by agreement.

   There is no specific price for any given type of documentation, and the price varies depending on the complexity of the work. For example, preparing documentation for establishing land plot boundaries in kind (on the ground) is less expensive on the market than a land management project for allocating land plots.

   Also, to determine the price, the client needs to understand why they need land registration. For example, if a person wants to sell a house or a privatized land plot, they must obtain a cadastral number. For this purpose, technical land management documentation is developed to establish (restore) the land plot boundaries in kind (on the ground).

   If you plan to sell an unprivatized plot of land without buildings in a gardening association or to privatize the plot of land, you must develop a land management project for the allocation of the plot of land.

   8. Are there any pitfalls in the new registration procedure? Is there still potential for land fraud involving registrars?

   Overall, I have a positive view of the adopted changes, as the new procedure significantly reduces corruption risks. After all, the acceptance of documents for registration and the actual registration of the land plot are now handled by different persons. Therefore, unjustified refusals should be reduced. However, it is crucial that the selection of the state registrar is truly random, using software, without the use of any algorithms known only to a select few. I believe the first conclusions about the new system will be available in six months to a year.

   For more details, see the Fakty newspaper’s study.