How to file a claim with the International Registry of Damages for Damaged or Destroyed Property: Explanations from Lawyers

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian property owners — both residential and commercial — have faced extensive destruction caused by Russian shelling. The International Register of Damages Caused by the Russian Federation’s War Against Ukraine has begun accepting applications for damage or destruction of non-residential real estate. These are offices, warehouses, shops, production facilities, cafes and other commercial or administrative premises damaged by shelling, rocket attacks or hostilities.

The lawyers of the “Repeshko and Partners” Bar Association explained how and who has the right to submit a statement, how to prove the fact of damage, what documents need to be collected and what to pay special attention to when filling out the electronic form.

Indeed, the International War Damage Registry has begun accepting claims for damage or destruction of non-residential real property. This Register was created by Ukraine, the EU and 42 other countries. The headquarters of the Register is located in The Hague  We would like to remind you that currently Ukraine compensates owners exclusively for the cost of destroyed or damaged residential real estate. But already now, natural persons – owners of real estate that was not used for residence, including parking spaces, office, warehouse, commercial premises, garages and other non-residential real estate, can submit an application to the International Register of Losses with a view to the future. This application falls under category A3.2 – Damage or destruction of non-residential real estate.

Individual owners have the right to apply for compensation for non-residential real estate destroyed or damaged after February 24, 2022.  To submit an application to the International Register of Damages, a citizen needs to register or log in to the account on the portal diia.gov.ua using an electronic digital signature. After choosing the appropriate category in the damage register – A3.2 – Damage or destruction of non-residential real estate, fill out the application. In the future, you need to confirm the filled-in data or add information about: type of object, ownership, circumstances of damage, evidence of damage and cost of damage, amount of compensation. The final step will be signing the documents with an electronic signature and sending them.

The system will check the application and enter it into the Register. It should be noted that the submission of the mentioned application is not about the compensation received tomorrow, it is work for the future. Currently, only the collection of relevant information about the damaged real estate is ongoing. In the future, after the development of the compensation mechanism, the accepted application and the evidence for it will be submitted to the future application review commission for consideration of the merits and a decision on the payment of compensation.

The compensation commission, to which the submitted documents will be transferred in the future, has not yet been created, its creation is ongoing. It is this commission that will continue to consider your documents on the merits and decide on the amount of compensation. The status of the application and a notification about the progress of the review will be sent to the citizen’s office in the “Pay attention and to e-mail” section.

We note that the right to submit the specified application to the Register is available to full-time owners and co-owners of non-residential real estate. That is, the application can be submitted from the age of 18 or from the age of 16, if you have full legal capacity and can prove it. In the near future, it will also be possible to apply for children, but this function is currently not available. We would like to draw your attention – if the real estate object has several co-owners, each of the co-owners must submit an application separately.

It should be noted that an application to the Register can be submitted regardless of where the real estate is located – even in the case of temporarily occupied territories and in the zone of active hostilities.

What exactly should be included in the statement of evidence? In support of the application, it is necessary to provide all the evidence and information: any documents, records, statements, photographs or other materials that are available and that you consider necessary. This will help the Register in processing, considering the application and making a decision on submitting the application to the Register of Losses.

Such evidence can be the following documents, which:

• confirm the fact of damages;
• confirm the amount of damages;
• confirm the event that caused the destruction;
• confirm real estate prices;
• confirm the amount of costs for the repair of the object: contracts, acts of completed works or receipts from the company that performed the repair; receipts confirming the purchase of the necessary materials, together with photos of the completed repair. If you performed the repair yourself, you should add photos or videos of the repair; written statements of neighbors, representatives or managers of local ZEKs, management companies or other persons who can confirm the fact of repair;
• confirm the presence of another citizenship (if you have more than one citizenship).

If you belong to one of the “privileged” categories (for example, military, medic, critical infrastructure worker, etc.), you must also provide a document that confirms this – service cards, employment contracts, orders, etc. Also, if necessary, you can add your comment to all documents. At the same time, you should know that the documents in the files must be in PNG, JPG, HEIC formats. The file size must not exceed 5 MB.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that in this service Diya acts only as a technical administrator who provides a convenient platform for submitting an application. Property data is contained in the State Register of Real Property Rights. Therefore, it may happen that incorrect data about the owner or real estate is added to the application. In this case, you need to contact the Administrative Services Center directly to correct the incorrect data. If you tried to register your property right, but you were refused registration, then you must specify this information in the application to the Register of Losses with an appropriate explanation of why you were refused registration and provide relevant documents that confirm the attempt to carry out state registration of real estate.

If the property is not registered in the State Register of Property Rights, the following documents should be added when filling out the application:

• an application for registration in the State Register of Property Rights to immovable property;
• decision to refuse registration;
• a document confirming the acquisition of ownership of the object, which was submitted together with the application for registration;
• court decision on recognition of property ownership;
• title documents registered before the State Register of Property Rights to Real Estate of Ukraine began to operate;
• a certificate of the right to inheritance, a contract of sale, gift or gift;
• extracts from the State Register of Deeds, provided by a notary;
• a certificate of ownership or documents from local technical inventory bureaus;
• technical passports of real estate objects;
• documents from local authorities confirming ownership;
• tax reporting documents;
• written statements of neighbors, representatives or managers of local ZEKs, management companies or other persons who can confirm ownership.

The given list of possible evidence is not exhaustive.

Each co-owner can file a separate claim for damages, this process does not require any consent from the other co-owners. Future reimbursement will be proportionate to your ownership interest. However, the platform may attract the wrong number of property owners. This is due to the fact that when submitting an application, all records of co-owners of the property are displayed, including inactive ones (for example, a record of the previous owner). At the same time, this application block is only informative, so you can submit an application with this information. The main thing is to correctly fill out and submit the relevant documents about yourself.

Regarding the amount of compensation if the property has several co-owners. Since each co-owner can file a claim for reparations separately, you need to indicate the amount of compensation you want to receive for your part of the property.

Please note that you can submit an application regardless of whether you have already received compensation under the isRecovery program or not. If the property is located in the temporarily occupied territory and you do not have a certificate of damage to the property, you also have the right to submit an application.

Regarding commercial real estate. An application for non-residential real estate that was used for commercial purposes can be submitted in this category if the property belonged to an individual. However, such a statement may only relate to the value of real estate or the cost of its repair. If your claim also covers other losses, such as lost profits from damage or destruction, you should also claim in another category, such as A3.5 (loss of private enterprise).

The main question that worries owners of damaged property is when exactly will compensation be paid? Ukraine, together with foreign partners, is currently working on the development of a compensation mechanism. Notifications about all important steps, in particular, about submitting a statement to the Register of Losses and its further consideration by the established compensation commission, will be sent to the citizen’s office in the Attention section and to e-mail. Therefore, receiving compensation currently has an indefinite term and depends on many factors.

If you submitted an application to the Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property of Ukraine (RPZM) and after that the authorities of Ukraine conducted an inspection of such property, this information must be included in the application to the Register of Damages.

We draw special attention to the fact that the right to submit an application to the Register belongs to property owners who were its owners at the time of damage. Those who purchased immovable property after it was damaged do not have the right to submit an application and, accordingly, compensation.

If the owner does not have the geographic coordinates of the immovable non-residential property, it is not necessary to indicate them.

Evidence confirming the fact of damage or destruction of immovable property can be the following:

• information from the Register of damaged and destroyed property of Ukraine;
• relevant court decisions;
• documents from law enforcement and judicial authorities, such as documents of criminal proceedings or statements on the opening of criminal proceedings;
• extracts from the Unified register of pre-trial investigations;
• Acts of the State Emergency Service, for example, acts on fire, damage or destruction of property with an indication of the reasons;
• reports of military administrations;
• acts of local authorities, including reports on the inspection of property by representatives of city, village or village councils;
• messages from mass media, including online publications and information channels in messengers;
• photo and video materials;
• written statements of neighbors, representatives or managers of local ZEKs, company managers or other persons who can confirm the event.

The provided list of possible evidence that is attached to the application is not exhaustive. For those who are just planning to get an expert assessment of damaged property, it should be noted that there is no approved or exhaustive list of experts for this purpose. The main thing is that such an expert has the appropriate certificates for carrying out evaluation activities.

The following documents can be submitted as additional evidence of the event that caused property damage or destruction:

• documents or information from state, local, law enforcement or judicial authorities;
• reports of international organizations or civil society organizations
• messages from mass media, including online publications and information channels in messengers;
• written statements of neighbors, local representatives or heads of housing and communal services or other persons who can confirm the event.

We advise you not to delay in submitting an application to the International Register of Losses, even if there is currently no question of payment of compensation. The statement records the fact of loss or damage to the non-residential premises and is an important step in participating in future compensation mechanisms. In advance, prepare documents that confirm the right of ownership, and also carefully collect evidence of damage: photos, videos, inspection reports, certificates from the State Emergency Service or local councils. If you have doubts about the wording or structure of the submitted information, you should seek help from specialists to avoid formal errors that can complicate the further consideration of the application.