«Recently we've been called upon more and more by land asset owners faced with the fact of the involuntary termination of land ownership," - Natalia Dotsenko-Belous, counsellor of Vasil Kisil & Partners law firm told the reporters during the press breakfast dedicated to land raiding: from classification to countermeasures, which took place in our office on May 23, 2012.

Despite the fact that forced termination of land ownership is possible only by court order, there are several options of extrajudicial seizure of land, which do not violate the law. The most common mechanism is the removal of the cadastral plot number, which can happen as a result of the prosecution appealing the decision of the local government regarding the transfer of land ownership. After the initial ruling is cancelled the land becomes the property of the community and is then re-privatized. A serious threat to land ownership also comes from the presence on it of property under abeyance or perennial plantings. Should the owner of this property (buildings or plants) suddenly appear the land on which they are located becomes his or her property.

Among the possible measures to protect ownership title to land, Natalia highlighted the elimination of the land parcel by combining it with another part of an existing one. In carrying out these procedures cadastral plot numbers that were assigned in the privatization process disappear and thus the risk of losing property rights is significantly reduced.

Another method of protection is to sell the land through a commodity exchange that will create a bona fide purchaser, whose ownership is almost invulnerable.

Putting registered real estate and perennials on the land plot will ensure that it falls under the "land follows the real estate" principal that protects the rights of land ownership from possible attacks.

According to Natalia, the new edition of Land Code currently under discussion, unfortunately, does not exclude the possibility of involuntary termination of land ownership out of court, but actually simplifies it. All the while suggestions coming from practicing lawyers who are ready to dedicate their time free of charge to drafting sensible legislature fall on deaf ears.

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About the Firm

Established in 1992, Vasil Kisil & Partners is a Ukrainian law firm that delivers integrated legal advice in banking & finance, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, antitrust, competition and trade, dispute resolution, tax law, energy and natural resources law, intellectual property law, labor and employment law, real estate and construction law, as well as PPP, concessions and infrastructure law.

The firm`s clients include such world-known companies as Alpcot Agro, Africa-Israel Group, Astellas Pharma, BASF, Bayer Consumer, BNP Paribas, British American Tobacco, Central European Media Enterprises, Coca Cola, Credit Agricole Group, Danone, Dell Inc., Du Pont, Energy Standard Group, Eurosport, Google, IKB Deutsche Industriebank, LG Electronics, Leroy Merlin Ukraine, Lukoil, Metso Automation Oy, Moody’s, Mott MacDonald Limited, NCH Capital, Novacke chemicke zavody, Opel, Philips, Pioneer, Red Bull, Russian Standard Bank, St. Sophia Homes, SEB AB, SEB Group, Swedbank AB, Seven Hills, Shell, Standard Charted Bank, Tchibo, UniCredit Group, Vanco International / Vanco Energy, Volkswagen, VympelCom, YouTube.