On March 5, 2009, the Law of Ukraine “On amending to some legislative acts certifying the title to land plot as well as the procedure of partition and consolidation of the land plots” was adopted.

The adoption of such legislative act has considerably changed the existing procedure of registration of title to land.

It should be noted that the only document certifying the title to land before was the “State Act to land title” .

The subject obtained the title at the exact same moment the State Act was obtained and registered.

The registration and issuing of State Acts has been carried out by the structural departments of the Centre of State Land Cadastre on the basis of the developed and approved technical documentation on the State Act drawing up.

As the state bodies have not been legally restricted by the terms of State Acts registration and issuing, the whole procedure was rather long-term and could take three to six months. Such procedures made the disposal of the land plot by its actual owner together with participation in land tax payment impossible.

The adoption of Law No 1066-VI considerably simplified the procedure of registration of title to the acquired land plots.

So, since May 2, 2009 (the date the amendments came into force) the title to the land plot acquired from the land of private property without changing its purpose can be certified by:

civil transaction on the land plot alienation (the registration of such transaction is carried out by means of sale-purchase, exchange, granting, etc. agreement conclusion),

Certificate on the succession right.

Thus, one of the main documents certifying the title to land is the agreement itself, upon which the title to land is transferred from one person to another.

The State Act to the alienated land title being issued to the previous owner should be attached to the document being the basis of title to land transferring.

The notary who carried out the transaction on the land plot alienation marks the State Act with the special record containing the information on the land plot alienation with the indication of the document being the basis of such alienation.

However, the procedure of title to land acquisition and registration is not confined by the abovementioned procedures. The State Act to the land plot should be also marked by the bodies of the State Land Cadastre.

The mark certifying the title to land transferring should be put on the State Act issued to the previous owner and attached to the document being the basis of title to land transferring, by the bodies of the land resources.

Upon the amendments to the Land Code adoption, the legislator settled the timetable of 14 calendar days from the date of application of registration for the land resources bodies, which are obliged to carry out in full the procedure of the new owner’s title registration.

The described simplified procedure will be applied in each case of land plot alienation which undoubtedly should change the established practice of long-term registration of title to the acquired property.

It is noteworthy that the procedure described above is applied to those persons who have already concluded the appropriate agreement on the acquiring of the land plot without passing the procedure of title to land registration, drawing up and issuing the State Act to the new owner.

Necessary to note that the simplified procedure of title to land registration can be applied only in cases the land plots are acquired from the lands of private property. In case of acquiring lands of state (communal) property, the acquirer cannot avoid the full procedure of technical documentation developing and registration of the State Act.

The above said can also be applied in cases of land purposes changing by the owner who will be obliged to pass the full procedure of registration and issuing the State Act to land.

It seems apparent that no considerable changes regarding the procedure of the land plots acquiring arose with the adoption of Law No 1066-VI: as before, the acquirer should apply to the local bodies of land resources for the title to land registration after the transaction on the land plot acquiring has been certified by the notary.

However, the notable fact is that as for the moment the land plot acquirer should not pass the long-term and expensive procedure of the technical documentation developing, drawing up and issuing the State Act to the land plot.