Category: Статьи

The Draft Law on Amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding spatial planning of territories (lands) (registration No. 13437) has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

On 17 June 2020, the Law of Ukraine on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding land use planning was adopted, which obligated local authorities to develop and approve comprehensive spatial development plans of the territorial community by 1 January 2025. However, considering all the challenges Ukraine has faced since 2020, only two communities have approved comprehensive spatial development plans.

The explanatory note refers to four communities: as of today (30 June 2025), comprehensive plans have been approved for only four territorial communities, 492 communities have already initiated the development process, and 32 are actively working on the document. In addition, rural, settlement, and city councils have not completed the entry of the above-mentioned data into the State Land Cadastre.

One of the communities for which data on functional zones has been entered into the State Land Cadastre on the basis of a comprehensive spatial development plan was identified in open sources — the Rohanska territorial community of Kharkiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast.

On 19 June 2025, congressional hearings on spatial planning in territorial communities were held at the Office of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine. Following the hearings, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on state building, local governance, regional development and urban planning was recommended to develop and support the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the Draft Law of Ukraine aimed at postponing the requirement for territorial communities to develop and approve comprehensive spatial development plans of the territorial community until 1 January 2028 for communities located in inland regions, and to set a deadline of three years after the end of martial law for communities located in regions where hostilities are taking place.

The draft proposes to amend the Land Code of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine “On the Regulation of Urban Development Activities”, “On the State Land Cadastre”, and “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding land use planning” to:

1. establish an additional transitional period (until 1 January 2028, or for the territories of territorial communities or their parts that, as of the effective date of the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding spatial planning of territories (lands)”, are included in the list of territories where hostilities are taking place or temporarily occupied by the russian federation, approved by the central executive authority responsible for the formation and implementation of state policy on temporarily occupied territories — until the expiration of three years from the date of termination or cancellation of martial law in the relevant territory), during which:

• the establishment or change of the functional designation of territories may be carried out on the basis of detailed territory plans on lands where comprehensive spatial development plans have not yet been approved;

• amendments to local-level urban planning documentation approved before 24 July 2021 may be made without taking into account the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Land Use Planning” as to its structure and content;

• approval of local-level urban planning documentation, the development of which began before 24 July 2021, may be carried out without taking into account the requirements of the above-mentioned Law as to the structure and content of local-level urban planning documentation;

• detailed territory plans for areas located outside settlements and for which no comprehensive spatial development plans have been approved may be developed and approved in accordance with the district and/or oblast planning schemes;

• rural, settlement, and city councils shall ensure the entry into the State Land Cadastre of data on: functional zoning of territories defined in local-level urban planning documentation; boundaries of heritage sites, historical and cultural reserves, historical areas of settlements, and protection zones of cultural heritage monuments indicated in the historical and architectural master plan; restrictions on land use in the construction sector;

2. define that the contracting authority for the planning schemes of specific parts of the territory of Ukraine shall be the central executive authority responsible for the formation of state policy in the fields of construction, building regulation, urban planning, spatial planning of territories and architecture. These schemes are to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the relevant oblast councils, the Kyiv and Sevastopol city councils, and adopted by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine;

3. ⭕️ establish the possibility of approving master plans of settlements located in territorial communities where comprehensive spatial development plans have not yet been approved;

4. establish that the availability of approved comprehensive spatial development plans of territorial communities and recovery programs for the territory of a territorial community (or its part) shall constitute an advantage when considering issues related to the financing of the recovery of such territory and/or infrastructure development in such territory from the state budget and/or international technical assistance or repayable/non-repayable financial aid from international organizations (except for the territories of territorial communities that, as of the date of the funding decision, are included in the list of territories where hostilities are taking place or temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, approved by the central executive authority responsible for the formation and implementation of state policy on temporarily occupied territories).

You can discuss the mentioned draft law in the group Urban Planning in Ukraine.

Yuriy Brykaylo, attorney

DREAMDIM & URBANDATA

Ⓒ 2025

In its Ruling dated May 28, 2025, in case No. 357/7006/24 concerning the recovery of a land plot in favor of the state from unlawful possession by an individual, the Supreme Court, acting through the panel of judges of the First Judicial Chamber of the Civil Cassation Court, concluded the following:

…The allegation that the disputed land plot overlaps with public land is merely the prosecutor’s assumption, based on an analysis of an extract from the master plan of Bila Tserkva and an extract from the detailed sectoral development plan. However, these documents do not allow for a definitive determination of whether the land plot overlaps with the street area, and no expert examination has been conducted.

⭕️ In its Ruling dated December 4, 2022, in case No. 619/2766/19, the Supreme Court concluded that evidence of full or partial overlap of one land plot over another—or the absence thereof—in cases where legal titles and/or land management documentation contradict each other, includes documents issued by the cadastral registrar as part of the official registration process upon application by the owner or user (including future owner or user), or an expert report issued as part of a land and technical examination. A similar position was expressed by the Supreme Court in its Ruling dated September 17, 2024, in case No. 686/27476/21.

The implementation of construction projects that contradict the approved urban planning documentation violates public interests

Therefore, the only appropriate evidence in such a case that could confirm or refute the overlap of land plots is an expert report from a land and technical examination, based on which the court can determine whether the claimants’ proprietary rights to the land plot have been violated.

The Supreme Court reached the same conclusion in its Ruling dated May 31, 2023, in case No. 515/1315/18.

Thus, the claimant failed to fulfill the burden of proof regarding the alleged violation of state interests (on whose behalf the prosecutor filed the claim), and failed to substantiate that the disputed land plot belonged to public lands. Accordingly, the panel of judges concurs with the findings of the first-instance and appellate courts that there is no legal basis for granting the claim. The prosecutor’s conclusion, based on the analysis of the extract from the detailed development plan for Sector No. 16 of Bila Tserkva, does not constitute valid evidence of the alleged overlap between the disputed land plot and public land. Furthermore, the claimant did not file any motion to initiate a land expert examination in this case.

⭕️ The analysis, review, and/or comparison of cadastral map data with an extract from the Detailed Development Plan (or any other urban planning documentation) does not constitute valid evidence of full or partial overlap or absence of overlap between land plots.

You can discuss case law on land issues in the Urban Planning in Ukraine group.

Yuriy Brykaylo, attorney

DREAMDIM & URBANDATA

Ⓒ 2025

The State property fund of Ukraine (SPFU) has published a draft order titled “On amendments to the procedure for maintaining the unified database of appraisal reports”, which aims to improve the functioning of the Unified database of appraisal reports. The proposed changes focus on enhancing the monitoring of information submitted by appraisers and appraisal entities, as well as streamlining the process for suspending or restoring access to the database for such entities and professionals.

However, the primary goal of the SPFU is to combat undervaluation in property appraisals.

The Fund points to the issue of undervaluing real estate by appraisers, emphasizing that, under current regulations, a key requirement for registering an appraisal report in the Unified Database is the compliance of the appraised market value with a 25% price range based on comparable properties listed in the database. This effectively results in the application of a 25% “discount” from market value, especially for standard property types in major cities where the automatically calculated indicative value is consistent with actual market prices.

In numerous cases, the actions of appraisal entities (or individual appraisers) have been driven by the prospect of receiving additional compensation from clients in exchange for significantly undervaluing property. The goal is often to reduce the tax base for transactions, thereby minimizing the taxes and fees payable by clients—revenues that would otherwise contribute to the State budget of Ukraine and other public funds.

According to SPFU monitoring data, there have been repeated instances where parties to a transaction, using services of appraisers, intentionally apply the 25% discount when determining market value, while still formally complying with the database registration rules.

The Fund cites examples of undervaluation in major cities across Ukraine, reporting that the average reduction in market value recorded in appraisal reports used in notarized transactions is approximately 22.62%.

What the SPFU proposes:

• Expansion of valuation objects: including indivisible unfinished construction objects and future real estate objects.
• Notary checks: appraisers’ entries must match official property documents (identity of the object).
• Access to the database: clarified procedure for suspension and reinstatement of access, including administrative proceedings.
• Report formatting: reports must be submitted as unprotected PDFs with a mandatory qualified electronic signature (QES) and indication of an email address.
• Publication of data: clarified list of public and non-public data fields (e.g., apartment numbers).
• Monitoring: refined to include validation of incorrect or misleading entries.
• Selective peer review: a full procedure for selective appraisal report review is introduced.
• Public access: data to be made available via the Unified state open data portal.

You can share your opinion on whether these changes will truly prevent the undervaluation of real estate in the “Urban planning in Ukraine” group.

Yuriy Brykaylo, attorney

DREAMDIM & URBANDATA

Ⓒ 2025