Legal aid providers in Chernihiv region will facilitate the realization of landowners’ rights

On September 12, 2017, a training session “Regulation of Land Relations in Local Communities” was held in Chernihiv for representatives of legal aid bureaus and public activists of the Chernihiv region.

The main topic of the event was a discussion of the problems of unregulated land and property relations in communities, as well as the problem of providing land plots to ATO participants and combating “land raiding”. Therefore, it was emphasized that it is precisely increasing the level of transparency, accountability and integrity of the work of local councils that is the key to upholding the rule of law and preventing corruption in the field of land circulation.

Directly about the legal regulation of land relations at the present stage, the main problems of land use in the region, as well as practical issues of the procedure for changing the boundaries of a land plot, the procedure for granting ownership of land plots and developing technical documentation for ATO participants, conducting an examination, the procedure for registering ownership of a land plot in the order of inheritance was highlighted by

Igor Puzan, Head of the Department of Land Management and Land Protection of the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Chernihiv Region

.

In particular,

Igor Puzan

highlighted the current issue of combating “land raiding”. According to the expert, in most cases this actually happens legally. Often people ignore the requirements of the law and do not re-register land documents: they do not make a cadastral number, technical documentation, do not extend lease agreements or do not register them. The state act confirms the right of ownership, but does not guarantee full disposal of the plot. In order to be able to dispose of the land plot, a cadastral number must be assigned and the plot and technical documentation must be registered.

In addition, a big problem in communities, in particular in the Chernihiv region, remains unclaimed or uninherited shares that cannot be leased by the local council. In this situation, the transfer of land plots to communal ownership is possible only in court and only then, according to the results of the auction, is leased.

Another problem, according to a representative of the State Geocadastre, is the transfer to united territorial communities (UTCs) of the authority to issue permits for the development of technical documentation. First, not all land managers are persons with relevant work experience. Secondly, the ATCs themselves are not ready to transfer such rights: in addition to equipment, ATCs must have special licensed programs and computer protection, which is quite an expensive pleasure, because commercial structures that can service these programs must obtain permission from the SBU.

Another problematic issue in communities is the desire of individual citizens to abandon land plots due to significant taxes or the inability to receive certain types of social assistance. But simply abandoning the land in this situation is impossible. The only option is to register the land plot in accordance with the legislation and notarize its abandonment in favor of another person or ATC/village council/settlement council.

The participants of the event concluded that the main task facing government structures, local councils and the public is to increase legal awareness and responsibility of both ordinary citizens and representatives of executive authorities and local self-government bodies.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights with the assistance of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in the Chernihiv Region and the Legal Development Network within the framework of the project “Strengthening the Legal Capacities of Local Communities in the Chernihiv Region” with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.