Occupation administrations published a procedure for registering property in the Russian Register of State Information. It is not working properly

Russian occupation administrations in four regions of Ukraine have published recommendations on going through the procedure for registering property with the Russian Federal Register of State Information, RIA Pivden reported. The procedure is required for those who want to retain property ownership in the occupied Ukrainian territories.

The recommendations of the occupation administrations state that reasons for rejection to provide registration of ownership rights may vary but they are mostly related to problems that arise during the verification of documents and their approval by various authorities.

One of the most common reasons for suspension of registration is discrepancies between the claimed rights and those already registered. This means that information provided by an applicant does not match information already contained in the state register.

For example, a person submits documents for a plot of land or real estate, but the register indicates that this object belongs to another person. Such contradictions can arise due to errors in old registration data, technical failures or incorrect legal procedures.

Until this discrepancy is resolved, the registration is suspended and the owner will have to wait or conduct additional checks to resolve the discrepancies.

Another common reason is the failure to provide all the necessary documents for registration. To register real estate, it is necessary to collect a certain package of documents, which includes title papers, certificates of ownership, etc.

If at least one of these documents is missing, the registration process is suspended. This creates significant difficulties for owners, especially under the occupation, when access to state archives and authorities is limited or missing.

“I applied for registration of my apartment in the first half of January this year. It was only five months later that I received a response from the MFC. The registration was denied because the apartment was on the list of “ownerless” property. As it turned out, it was put on the “ownerless” list in February, almost a month after I applied for registration. Now, I have to prove for the register that I live in my apartment,” a resident of Melitopol told RIA Pivden.

In addition, there are cases when documents requested from other authorities under interagency requests are not received. The registration process often requires confirmation or clarification of data from other government agencies, such as the tax office or cadastral service.

Under the occupation, the interaction between different authorities has become slow and chaotic, resulting in delays. If documents are not received within the established deadlines, the registration process is frozen until they are received. This makes people dependent on inefficient and often poorly coordinated processes.

In some cases, applicants face the fact that instead of the required documents, the authority to which the interagency request was sent provides information about their absence.

For example, the cadastral service may inform that the requested certificate is not in the register. The property registration process is suspended, and the owners have to decide how to proceed: look for alternative documents or go to court to appeal the decision.

In addition, it has become almost impossible to make an appointment for registration through multifunctional centres (MFCs). Residents complain that calls to MFCs go unanswered.

“I was given the phone number of an MFC. I dialled for a week and no one picked up the phone. I asked my neighbours how they got through, and they said that they had the same situation, so they had to wait in a live queue to get on a waiting list to submit their documents,” a resident of Melitopol said.

Those who manage to submit their documents may be denied the registration a month later, as the housing has already been declared ownerless, and people are recommended to resolve the issue through the courts. This process can take months.