If housing documents are lost. When should you worry and what can be done.

Under the stressful conditions of evacuation — which millions of Ukrainians have already experienced as a result of the war and which continues to this day - not everyone leaving their home does so with their property documents. Some hope for a quick return; others have already lost documents or access to them due to hostilities. For this reason, restoring housing documents has become one of the most common requests lawyers receive from internally displaced persons. At the same time, in this turbulent period for Ukrainians, understanding this issue can be useful for any property owner.

In this article, we will clarify:

• which documents are considered title documents;
• what the State Register of Rights to Immovable Property is;
• what options exist for restoring documents depending on when ownership was acquired;
• the judicial procedure if other options prove ineffective.

Important! The loss of a document confirming ownership does not mean loss of the ownership right itself. However, restoring a damaged or lost document is critically important. For example, to receive compensation in case of damaged or destroyed housing, it is necessary to confirm ownership.

A title document is an official document prepared in accordance with the legal requirements in force at the time of issuance and certifying a person’s legal connection to the property.

Examples include:

• Contracts: Sale and purchase, exchange, gift, inheritance agreement — notarized.
• Certificates: Certificate of ownership issued by a local authority or privatization body; certificate of inheritance; certificate of ownership of a share in joint marital property.
• Court decisions: On recognition of ownership rights.
• State acts: On ownership of a land plot.

Important! Ownership of immovable property is subject to mandatory state registration. State registration is the final stage of formalizing ownership and serves as official recognition by the state of the acquisition, modification, or termination of rights.

What does this mean in practice

Until 01 January 2013, state registration of ownership was carried out by Technical Inventory Bureaus (BTI), initially in paper registry books and files, with registration marks and stamps placed directly on documents. In the early 2000s, electronic registration was introduced in the Register of Ownership Rights to Immovable Property, which later became an archival component of the current electronic register.

Since 01 January 2013, state registration has been conducted by entering relevant data into the modern State Register of Rights to Immovable Property by a state registrar or notary. Therefore, the method of restoring lost documents often depends on the period when ownership was acquired and registered.

Restoration options depending on the period of acquisition

1. Documents Issued after 01 January 2013

If a document issued after this date is lost, damaged, or destroyed, information about the property, the owner, and the grounds for acquisition is already stored in the State Register, as it was entered during registration. An extract from the State Register confirming ownership can be obtained at an Administrative Service Center (CNAP) or online via the Diia portal by selecting “Provision of Information from the State Register of Rights to Immovable Property.”

For participation in compensation programs, the presence of a record in the Register is sufficient. However, if inheritance or disposal of property is required, a duplicate of the title document must be obtained from the issuing authority or party to the transaction.

2. Documents issued between 01 January 2003 and 01 January 2013

During this period, ownership was registered electronically in the Register of Ownership Rights to Immovable Property, which is now an archival component of the current State Register. If information exists in that register, ownership data can be transferred into the modern State Register.

Verification can also be conducted via CNAP or the Diia portal. For compensation purposes, a record in this register is sufficient. However, for inheritance or property disposal, a duplicate title document must be obtained.

3. Documents issued before Electronic Registers

If ownership was acquired during the period when registration was maintained only in paper archives of BTI, the information may not appear in modern electronic registers.

In such cases, it is necessary to:

• determine which authority or notary issued the document;
• locate its current address;
• apply for a duplicate, as only the original issuing body may provide one.

Important! A duplicate has the same legal force as the original. However, risks include lack of access to archives due to occupation, hostilities, or destruction of records.

4.Judicial restoration of ownership documents

If attempts to obtain a duplicate have not yielded results, the judicial procedure remains as the means of resolving the issue. For an owner who has lost a document certifying their ownership right, the legislator has provided the possibility to apply to court with a claim for recognition of this right. That is, only the owner may file such a claim with the court.

Disputes of this category are considered at the location of the immovable property; therefore, the proper court for filing the claim will be the one whose territorial jurisdiction extends to the location of the property.

Important! Under wartime conditions, a number of courts have ceased operations and their territorial jurisdiction has been transferred to other functioning courts in different regions of Ukraine. Therefore, it is necessary to verify in advance which court has been assigned the territorial jurisdiction of the relevant court. This can be done by using the official web portal “Judicial Authority of Ukraine” in the section “Court Search.”

The defendant in such a claim will be the person or body that, due to the absence of a title document, does not recognize the plaintiff’s ownership of the property or has its own interest within the existing legal relations.

These may include:

• authorities authorized to issue title documents;
• bodies that carry out state registration of rights to immovable property;
• territorial communities;
• under martial law — temporary military administrations of settlements, established to ensure the implementation of the laws of Ukraine and the legal regime within territorial communities where local self-government bodies do not exercise their powers.

The claim value depends on the value of the property. Therefore, the court must be provided with relevant data confirming the property’s value, such as: a property valuation report prepared by a certified valuation entity; an electronic certificate of the appraised value of the immovable property obtained through the service of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, etc. The court fee rate for individuals amounts to 1% of the claim value, but not less than 0.4 of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons and not more than 5 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons.

Evidence in such cases may include:

• copies of the document itself (photographs, photocopies, photos taken by phone, etc.);
• copies of technical documentation of the immovable property;
• copies of any other documents in which the title document is mentioned, including its details, date of issuance, registration number, issuing authority, and date of issuance;
• copies of documents that preceded the title document (privatization orders, decisions on allocation of a land plot for construction, etc.);
• certificates from the BTI and archives;
• contracts with housing and utility service providers;
• copies/originals of registration certificates, household register extracts;
• receipts for payment of housing and utility services;
• photographs of the immovable property itself;
• witness statements, etc.

As a result of the case consideration, a court decision adopted in favor of the plaintiff and that has entered into legal force shall become the title document, which must be enforced by submitting it to the state registrar to carry out registration actions in the State Register of Rights to Immovable Property .

If the court decision confirming ownership has been lost, the owner may apply to the court of first instance where the respective case was considered, requesting reissuance of the court decision.

Practical advice for property owners

It is necessary to verify whether there is a record of your ownership right in the State Register of Rights to Immovable Property and, if it is absent, to carry out registration. For this purpose, you may use the guidance provided in the article “How to register real estate via Diia. portal”

It is also advisable to photograph the original documents available to the owner, make scanned copies, and store them on digital media, including external storage devices and in cloud storage. Detailed photographs or videos of the apartment, house, etc., may also prove useful if it becomes necessary to establish ownership rights through court proceedings.

If it becomes necessary to file a relevant claim in court, you may use professional legal assistance from a lawyer via the “PravoVsim” Platform.

This material was created by the Charitable Organization “Caritas Mariupol” in partnership with the Danish Refugee Council with funding from the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the DRC. Neither the European Commission nor the DRC can be held responsible for the content of this material.