On 16 January 2020, certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Land Code of Ukraine and Other Laws regarding Anti-Raiding Measures” (“Law”) became effective. Some remaining provisions of the Law[1] will become effective on 16 July 2020. To counteract raiding, the Law substantially changes the Ukrainian legislation on property rights registration, land lease, registration of companies, etc. In particular, the Law:
- allows to cancel a land plot cadastral number based on a court’s decision
- allows owners to require notarisation of any agreement regarding their real estate and/or land plots via the State Register of Proprietary Rights to Immovable Property (“Register”)
- envisages that, if a land lease expressly allows its automatic renewal and this fact is reflected in the Register, the landlord and the tenant do not need to execute a new agreement to renew the lease. However, to exercise its pre-emptive right to execute a land lease for a new term, a tenant must sign a new land lease agreement
- allows shareholders of Ukrainian companies to require notarisation of (1) shareholders’ signatures on company’s minutes and (2) agreements regarding their shares. Such requirements must also be registered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organisations
- provides that rent payments for the lease of state and municipally owned land plots obtained through an auction may not be decreased either during the original term of the agreement or after its renewal
- explicitly determines that the land lease may commence on a different date than the date when the land lease was signed
The Law requires that, by 1 January 2022, the Ukrainian Government must fill the Register with information about title to the land plots, which were alloted before 1 January 2013.
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[1] For example, changes of the procedure for the land lease renewal and provisions regarding a requirement to notarise agreements and companies’ decisions.
