Selling a house will become easier: The Ministry of Justice excluded a controversial provision from the Procedure for performing notarial acts
From June 12, 2026, the provision in Ukraine that obliged notaries to refuse to certify contracts of alienation of real estate if the object was built or being built on a land plot not allocated for this purpose is no longer in effect.
The relevant changes were made by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated June 5, 2026, No. 1483/5 "On Approval of Amendments to Certain Regulatory Legal Acts of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine," which came into force on June 12, 2026.
Which provision was canceled
Before the amendments, subparagraph 1.7 of chapter 2 of the Procedure for performing notarial acts by notaries of Ukraine stipulated that a notary must refuse to certify a contract of alienation of a residential house, building, structure, or other real estate if the submitted documents indicated that the object was built or being built on a land plot that was not allocated for the corresponding purpose.
This subparagraph was excluded from the Procedure by the Ministry of Justice order.
What problems arose in practice
Subparagraph 1.7 of chapter 2, section II of the Procedure for performing notarial acts was a subject of long-standing discussions among notaries and practicing lawyers.
Its application effectively made the possibility of certifying an alienation contract dependent on the notary's assessment of whether the land plot's designated purpose corresponded to the real estate object built on it.
In practice, this created difficulties when concluding contracts for residential houses located on land plots designated for gardening, garden houses on residential land, non-residential buildings on gardening land, as well as buildings and structures erected on land plots for personal farming.
In such cases, notaries often refused to certify contracts due to the mismatch between the type of construction and the land plot's designated purpose.
Moreover, applying this provision effectively imposed on the notary the obligation to evaluate circumstances beyond their notarial authority, related to compliance with land and urban planning legislation.
What the changes mean
The exclusion of subparagraph 1.7 means that this circumstance is no longer an independent ground for a notary to refuse to certify a contract of alienation of real estate.
At the same time, the changes do not alter the requirements of land, urban planning, or construction legislation. They concern exclusively the notarial procedure and the delineation of powers between notaries and authorities authorized to control the legality of construction and land use.
Practical significance
In fact, the Ministry of Justice order removes from the Procedure for performing notarial acts the provision linking the possibility of certifying a transaction with verifying the compliance of the construction with the land plot's designated purpose.
From now on, the absence of this provision should promote a clearer separation of notarial functions and the control powers of state authorities, while not affecting the validity of special legislation requirements regarding the legality of construction and land use.
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