NOTARIAL AND REGISTRATION LEGISLATION UPDATED

On 28 April 2022, Resolution of the Government of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Government of Ukraine on Notaries’ Activity and Functioning of Unified and State Registers Held by the Ministry of Justice, during Martial Law” No. 480-2022-p, dated 19 April 2022 (“Resolution”), entered into force, amending several previously adopted resolutions (as described in the Legal Alert, dated 29 March 2022).

Among other things, the Resolution lifts certain restrictions (in particular, it determines the conditions for the state registration of proprietary rights), while establishing some new limits in order to avoid trespasses in the notarial and registration actions during martial law and one month after it is terminated.

1. Notarisation

• the russian federation’s citizens and companies whose beneficial owners or participants with a share of more than 10% are russian federation’s citizens may only apply for notarial services if such citizens have legitimate grounds to live in Ukraine
• only the notaries included by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (“Minjust”) in a special list (“List of Notaries”) may perform notarial actions in respect of the valuable property (to certify agreements on disposal of property, change of creditor under loan and mortgage agreements, to certify mortgage, lease, loan, and inheritance agreements, agreements on disposal of securities or corporate rights, to certify signatures on delivery acceptance acts regarding shares in companies, etc). The List of Notaries has been approved by the Minjust and may be updated: https://minjust.gov.ua/pages/list_of_notaries
• an interested party may confirm the authenticity of a power of attorney certified by a notary without using official notarial forms, by contacting the relevant notary with a copy of such document. The notary must, within two business days, issue a certificate confirming or denying the authenticity of such power of attorney.

2. Registration

Some legislative provisions related to state registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, and civic organisations (“Companies”) and/or state registration of proprietary rights to real estate and their encumbrances (“State Registration”) were amended:

• the State Registration may now be done by the notaries included in the List of Notaries in addition to officials of the Minjust, its local agencies (“Registrars”), included in the list of registrars adopted by the Minjust (“List of Registrars”)
• only the notaries practicing within the real estate’s location may register the rights to respective real estate (except in case of inheritance)
• if the documents for the State Registration require notarial certification of the applicant’s signature (e.g. a delivery acceptance act in case of transfer of property into the ownership of a company as a contribution, written co-owners’ consents to property alienation), the notary performing the State Registration should personally certify the signatures on such documents
• to complete the State Registration initiated before the martial law, the submitted applications may be transferred to the Registrars and notaries included in the List of Registrars and the List of Notaries
• the following registration actions are prohibited:
  • disposal of real estate or changes to the Company’s participants if the seller’s representative acts under a power of attorney
  • the State Registration of the proprietary rights to real estate and their encumbrances under an agreement certified by a notary within the period from 25 February 2022 up to the date when such notary was included in the List of Notaries
  • the State Registration of the ownership right to real estate within one month after its previous owner’s title was registered (except in case of inheritance)
  • real estate contribution to the Company’s charter capital or its transfer to withdrawing founders (participants)
  • the State Registration of the ownership right to the real estate mortgaged under a consumer loan agreement.

Thus, the Resolution has partially unblocked the performance of some notarial and registration actions, allowing certain notaries and Registrars to ensure the real estate turnover and perform more registration actions related to the Companies. We believe that such amendments will contribute to the partial restoration of economic relations during martial law.