No cadastral number — problems will arise: explanations from lawyers and examples from practice

Land issues in Ukraine are rarely simple – even when it comes to an ordinary private plot. At a certain point, the owner is faced with the need to collect documents for sale, donation, re-registration or inheritance — and suddenly it turns out that nothing can be done without a cadastral number. Some learn about it from a notary, others when they try to register ownership in the registry. A cadastral number is required for any registration of rights, it is a mandatory condition for entering data into the State Land Cadastre, without it no contracts of sale, donation or division can be drawn up. The problem is that not all plots in Ukraine are included in the cadastre, especially if we are talking about deeds of the old model or privatization that took place before 2004.

What to do if the plot is owned, but there is no cadastral number? Are there risks for owners and heirs and can a registration made without the consent of the legal owner be challenged? The editors of IA “FACT” asked these questions to the lawyers of the “Repeshko and Partners” bar association, who work with land conflicts every day and know well what happens in real situations.

First of all, you should know that the cadastral number of a land plot is a unique code on the territory of Ukraine, which is assigned to each land plot for the purpose of its identification and remains unchanged throughout the existence of the land plot as a whole. When the owner changes, the cadastral number of the land plot remains unchanged. It is a sequence of numbers and signs that is assigned to a land plot during its state registration and is kept with it throughout its existence and consists of 19 numbers separated by a colon and looks like this: ХХХХХХХХХ: ХХ ХХХ: ХХХ where:

• ХХХХХХХХХ – a code consisting of 10 digits that determine the location of the outer boundaries of the settlement. The sequence is compiled according to the Classifier of objects of the administrative-territorial system (OATU), simply put, it indicates the settlement (oblast, district, city, village, etc.);
• ХХ – a code consisting of 2 digits that determine the location of the cadastral zone;
• XXX – a code consisting of 3 digits that determine the location of the cadastral quarter in relation to the cadastral zone;
• XXXXX is a code consisting of 4 digits that determine the location of the land plot itself within the cadastral quarter.

The full-fledged date of the appearance of the legislation of Ukraine, with which the formation of land plots as objects of civil rights (rights to land) is associated, is January 1, 2013, when the laws “On the State Land Cadastre” and “On the state registration of real rights to immovable property and their encumbrances” were put into effect as part of the land registration reform. That is why orderly, properly executed documents appeared after this date, and all those that were executed for land plots before that need special attention.

Currently, without a cadastral number for a land plot, you cannot:

• sell it, exchange it or give it away;
• to issue an inheritance;
• sell, donate or exchange a residential building, or its part, a non-residential building, since the land plot follows the fate of the house;
• to perform other legal actions, for example, to contribute to the company’s statutory fund or to divide one plot of land into several.

According to Article 132 of the Land Code of Ukraine, agreements on the transfer of ownership rights to land plots must contain the cadastral number of the land plot. Also, according to Part 6 of Article 120 of the Code, an essential condition of the contract that provides for the acquisition of ownership of a residential building, building or structure is the cadastral number of the land plot, the right to which is transferred in connection with the acquisition of ownership of these objects.

Despite the fact that the cadastral number is associated mainly with privatized land plots, in practice its absence creates problems in other cases as well. A common perception is that if the land is not privately owned, it is not necessary to obtain a cadastral number for it. This is a misconception. One attempt to formalize any legal action is enough, and the situation changes.

One of the most typical examples is a private house in a village, built on land that formally remains in communal ownership. The house could have been purchased even in Soviet times by the parents or grandparents of the current owner. There are documents for the house itself, ownership is confirmed. But the situation with the land is different: the plot has not been registered, there are no documents for it, because it is still registered with the village council. For many years, this does not create difficulties. A person lives in his house, receives communal services, pays taxes, but at some point there is an intention to sell the house.

For example, the owner of the house finds an apartment in the city that suits him completely – both in terms of location and cost. Signing the agreement would seem like a formality. But in practice, it turns out that the notary cannot register the contract of sale if the land plot under the house does not have a cadastral number. Formally, the agreement is about a building, but a building without land does not exist as an object. The presence of a number is a mandatory condition for registration.

In this case, issuing a number will be technically possible, but it will take time. You need to contact the land manager, submit an application to the State Land Cadastre, wait for approvals and enter information into the system. It can last from several weeks to several months, depending on the situation in a particular region. As a result, there is a loss of time and the risk that the pre-arranged apartment will be sold to another buyer.

We advise you not to wait until you need a cadastral number urgently. If the residential building belongs to you, and the land under it is not formally privately owned, you should initiate the procedure for assigning a number in advance. This does not mean that it will be necessary to automatically privatize the plot or change its purpose. It is only about the technical registration of the object in the state system. In many cases, this will avoid delays in the future, whether you are planning to sell, donate, probate or renovate.

In addition, it is necessary to arrange documents for those citizens who have a state deed for the ownership of a plot of land, but this plot of land does not have a cadastral number, and therefore the state authorities simply do not “see” such a plot of land. This is also quite a widespread phenomenon, because there was a period of time when state deeds for ownership of land plots were already issued to citizens, but cadastral numbers were not yet assigned to land plots.

Owners of state documents that do not contain a cadastral number need to go through the procedure for obtaining it, if only because without it your heirs will still not be able to issue inheritance rights to the land. So, if you love your children, grandchildren, spouse and elderly parents, take care of them now by simplifying the procedure for obtaining a certificate of right to inheritance. Before receiving it, the heirs at the request of a notary will still have to contact the land management organization and get the same cadastral number for the land plot.

We would like to point out that the state act on the ownership of a land plot has the same force and certifies the ownership of a land plot no matter what color it is and no matter when it was issued. So, if you have: the State Land Title Act (pink; issued from 1991 to 2003), the State Land Title Act (green; issued from 2002 to 2008) or the State Land Title Act (blue; issued from 2009 to 2012), then check whether the cadastral numbers for the land plot in the specified acts.

In the absence of such a number on the state document, you need:

• apply to the land management organization to prepare technical land management documentation for the establishment (restoration) of the boundaries of the land plot in kind (on site);
• after receiving the technical documentation from the land management regarding the establishment (restoration) of the boundaries of the land plot in kind (on site), it must be transferred to the State Land Cadastre, where the plot will be directly assigned the same cadastral number. Based on the result, you will be issued with an extract about the land plot from the State Land Cadastre;
• After that, the path leads to the state registrar to register ownership rights to the land plot in the register of ownership rights to immovable property.

If there is a cadastral number on the state act, in any case, you must enter information about your ownership of the land plot in the real estate register.

It is worth knowing that the Register of Real Estate has been operating since January 1, 2013, and therefore all documents issued before that time may not be in the register. Actions to fill the register with information were used before this time, but we can say that in 50% of cases the information is missing.

The following documents are usually submitted to the state registrar, which can be located both at the Center for the provision of administrative services and at the relevant village or district local council (but the exact list must be clarified in advance directly on the spot):

• extract from the State Land Cadastre;
• copy and original of the passport of the applicant – the owner of the land plot;
• copy and original of the identification number of the applicant – the owner of the land plot;
• a receipt for the payment of the administrative fee (details for payment must be obtained from the local TsNAP);
• the original of the State act on ownership of the land plot;
• a statement of the established form, which is printed by the registrar and signed by the applicant.

If all the documents are available and correctly executed, then the state registrar issues an Extract on the registration of the ownership right to the land plot from the register of rights to real estate.

You should also be aware that there is no single price tag for the cost of obtaining a cadastral number. If we are talking about an ordinary plot of land, whether with or without a house, then the cost of assigning a cadastral number will range from UAH 3,000 to UAH 30,000 – it all depends on the area in which the plot is located, how quickly it is necessary to get this very number, and on the coolness of the company that deals with this issue. The average cost of the service in an ordinary town in a modest organization will in turn attract UAH 4-7,000.

There is another reason why it is absolutely necessary to have a cadastral number for a plot of land – so as not to be left without it, or not to get involved in court proceedings for years. How is that possible? But very simple! The simplest case from our practice looks as follows. In the early 2000s, a woman acquired a plot of land in a small village on the outskirts of a big city by a state act. While she was younger, she planted a vegetable garden on it with her husband, later she just owned it, paying land tax.

Then the husband fell ill and for several years was completely absent from the site. The big city has also grown larger over the years, expanding with some suburban areas, and plots of land like the one owned by the woman have risen in value and become quite desirable for private development. Added to the situation is what happens in many cases – duplication of addresses and confusion with addresses: str. Parkova 8; St. 8 Parkova ave. Vesely 3 and other options.  So, one morning, when the woman arrived at her land plot, she saw an expensive fence on the land plot. The woman did not have a cadastral number for the plot of land, the plot was not registered in the real estate register, so one of the first actions the woman tried to take was to finalize her state deed for ownership of the plot of land: to obtain a cadastral number and enter her ownership in the state registers in order to fully legally prove her rights.

However, she was unable to do this – the new owners who received the land plot already had a cadastral number for it, and this land plot overlapped with the woman’s land plot for a significant part, and there should be only one cadastral number per land plot. The woman was refused registration of her land plot. Prolonged court proceedings began, as a result of which the plot of land remained in the possession of new owners, because the woman did not have the means to go to court properly – with the appointment of a rather expensive land and geodetic examination, with the payment of a court fee for each numerous claim in the lawsuit. In turn, the new owner is not to blame for this situation, because he received the land plot from the village council in compliance with the full procedure, which was carried out properly. So, as we can see, it is quite real and even sometimes completely legal to “steal” a plot of land.

Taking into account the given examples, we strongly recommend the owners of land plots to review their documents and, if necessary, organize them. The process of assigning cadastral numbers to land plots continues even during martial law.