Recognition of Property Rights: The Story of a Family from Sieverskodonetsk

Ms. Olena and her husband lived in Sieverskodonetsk, in the Luhansk region, for many years. They worked, raised their son, and built a life together. In 1997, they privatized an apartment, which became the family’s home.

In the spring of 2022, due to the war, the family was forced to leave the city and move to Dnipro. There, they had to start from scratch. Meanwhile, the apartment they left behind in the occupied territory was damaged during the fighting.

When the family decided to apply for compensation, a problem arose: the property rights to the apartment had not been entered into the State Register of Real Property Rights (DRRP). They were unable to resolve the situation on their own.

It turned out that the archives of the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI) in Sieverskodonetsk had not been evacuated, so it was impossible to confirm ownership using the old documents. In addition, there was another complication with the documents—the owners’ last names differed by a single letter from those listed in their passports.

The family turned to Olesia, a lawyer with the “Caritas Mariupol” Charitable Foundation, for help. She explained what could be done in this situation, helped gather the necessary documents, and prepared a petition to the court. Among other things, a linguistic analysis report was needed to confirm that the different spellings of the last names referred to the same people.

In addition to legal assistance, the family received financial support—which helped cover the costs of the expert analysis and court fees, something crucial for people who had lost their home and stability.

The court ruled in favor of the family. Afterward, they were able to register their ownership of the apartment in the state registry.

A few months later, the family received an extract from the registry—a document that granted them access to compensation for their damaged home under the state program “eRecovery.” In addition, registering their ownership allowed them to submit forms A3.1 and A3.6 to the International Register of Damages for Ukraine—regarding their damaged home and the loss of access to it due to the occupation.

Access to free legal aid for internally displaced persons in the Dnipropetrovsk region was made possible through the collaboration between the “Caritas Mariupol” Charitable Foundation and the Danish Refugee Council, as well as funding provided as part of the European Union’s humanitarian aid program.