Registration of rights to real property by a notary in Ukraine

Andriy Buzynnyi, lawyer of law firm “Pravova Dopomoga” prepared the material about legislation of 2013 which allows registration of rights to real property by notaries. The article was published on Ukrainian Business Resource.

Unabridged text of the material as well as list of all the required documents is available below:

“One of the main achievements of reform that took place in the field of registration of rights to real property and entered into force on the 1^st of January 2013 was provision of powers of state registrars to notaries. Due to this the term of entry into agreement related to disposal of real property and registration of rights to it was shortened from two-three months to a couple of hours. But in order for this procedure to take couple of hours we would recommend to follow the following advices.

1. It is worth to use services of a notary related to registration of rights to real property only when entering into agreement that can be an object of a notarial action. Such actions include notarization of legal actions (sale agreement, deed of gift, etc.), formalization of inheritance, etc. Notaries do not have powers related to issuance of real property ownership certificates and therefore in order to perform primary registration of rights to a new object of real property it is required to apply to a state registrar. Besides, notaries do not transfer information about real property objects from old registers to the Register of property rights to real property if notarial actions related to these objects are absent.

2. One should choose a notary thoroughly. As of today not that many notaries are connected to the Register of property rights to real property and have technical ability to perform state registration of rights to real property. But even those who are connected to the mentioned register may not be ready to conduct the registration. This is why we would recommend to call notaries of your region and find out those that are able to perform the state registration.

3. One should not expect that a visit to a notary will cost 399 UAH. In reality the amount will cover only expenses related to issuance of an extract from the Register of property rights to real property and state duty. Besides, notaries charge for search of information in the Register of property rights to real property and if the required information is not in it they charge for search of information in electronic Register of rights to real property, Unified register of prohibitions set on disposal of real property, State register of mortgages and State register of real property encumbrances. However the state budget will receive only payment for search of information in the Register of rights to real property (it equals 86 UAH). Access to other registers by notaries is free of charge, but private notaries may charge for their services related to search in the mentioned registers.

Besides, one should not forget about cost of bargain notarization or other notarial actions. For example, when notarizing contracts related to disposal of real property objects a state notary will have to collect a state duty in the amount of 1% of the contract price. Notarization performed by a private notary may cost more.

4. If seller’s (other person’s that disposes of property) ownership right to a real property object had been registered prior to the time when local bureaus of technical inventory were connected to the electronic Register of real property rights (connection of bureaus of technical inventory to the Register began in 2002 but for example bureaus in Kiev were connected only in 2010) then it will be quite difficult to find the required documents. The thing is that in order to notarize a contract of real property disposal a notary must be sure that ownership right to the real property was registered. And if a notary can’t find this information in electronic registers then it is required to obtain an extract from paper-based registries that are stored by bureaus of technical inventory. It can be done either by a notary through filing of a request to a bureau of technical inventory or by owner himself. But a response of the bureau is not guaranteed since it considers such information to be its property and is not eager to give it away. Moreover it is possible that the documents will be transferred from the BTI’s archives to a different place by the time one requests them (in some regions materials from the BTI’s archives are already being transferred to the state registrars).

5. Before visiting a notary one should be advised by the notary himself or by lawyers about the list of documents that will be required to enter into agreement. In any case it is required to provide:

• Passports or other documents which verify identities of parties of an agreement (their representatives). In case when a bargain is entered into by a representative of an individual it is required to provide passport of such representative (the notary keeps a copy of the passport) as well as copy of passport or other document which verifies identity of the individual himself;
• Copy of ITIN (for an individual who is a party of an agreement) or copy of a certificate from the Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organization of Ukraine (for a legal entity that is a party of an agreement);
• If an agreement is entered into by a representative it is required to provide a document which confirms authorization of a representative (contract of agency, letter of attorney, charter, order, etc.) and its copy (the notary keeps the copy);
• Real property ownership certificate of a person that disposes of property or other document that confirms this right (for example affidavit of inheritance, court ruling about recognition of ownership, etc.);
• Contract that is signed by parties or other document which provides rights to and sets obligations upon parties (for example testator’s death certificate and birth certificates of his relatives that are heirs under the law);
• Request of a new owner for state registration of ownership to real property;
• Receipt which confirms payment of the state duty;
• Receipt which confirms payment for provision of an extract from the State Register of rights to real property;
• Receipt which confirms payment of other notary’s services.

List of other documents that are required for entry into agreement and registration of ownership depends on the type of such agreement, legal status of parties and real property. For example, in order for individuals to enter into sale contract of a house or an apartment it may be required:

• Certificate of family members (form number 3) that is issued by a housing office, condominium or other body that has authorization regarding registration of place of living;
• Permission of social services to enter into agreement (in case when certificate of family members provides that ownership or right to use a house belongs to a child, incapacitated or disabled person);
• Written consent of a spouse to dispose of real property or a document which confirms that real property is privately owned;
• Certificate issued by an expert about estimated price of real property and documents which confirm payment of income tax to the budget;
• Document which confirms consent of a mortgagee or a body of the State Tax Service of Ukraine for disposal of property (in case when sold property is mortgaged or under a tax lien);
• Other documents which confirm facts, that are relevant for entry into agreement.

Besides, one may have to provide technical specifications certificate of a real property object. The legislation does not provide a requirement about provision of such document to a notary but a buyer may request it to be sure that the real property includes no elements of unpermitted construction.”