Violation of co-owner's rights became the basis for canceling the arrest of a land plot: case details

The Rivne Court of Appeal reviewed the local court's ruling on securing a claim in a case regarding the arrest of a land plot jointly owned by a Ukrainian citizen and her foreign husband. This was reported by the court.

Case essence No. 570/3413/25

The panel of judges reviewed the first instance court's ruling, which satisfied the prosecutor's application to secure the claim before filing the lawsuit and imposed an arrest on the land plot located in one of the united territorial communities near Rivne, as well as prohibited the authorities responsible for state registration of property rights from performing any registration actions regarding the disputed land plot, and prohibited state cadastral registrars from taking actions aimed at entering information into the State Land Cadastre.

The spouses, in their appeals, requested to cancel the local court's ruling and deny the applicant's request to apply measures to secure the claim.

Conclusions of the Court of Appeal

After reviewing the case materials and the arguments of the appeals, and hearing the explanations of the participants in the court proceedings, the Court of Appeal concluded to satisfy them, considering the following circumstances of the case.

According to parts 1 and 2 of Article 149 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - CPC of Ukraine), the court, upon the application of a party to the case, has the right to take measures to secure the claim as provided by Article 150 of this Code.

When considering an application to secure a claim, the court, taking into account the evidence provided by the party to confirm its claims, must ensure, in particular, that a dispute has indeed arisen between the parties, there is a real threat of non-fulfillment or difficulty in fulfilling a possible court decision to satisfy the claim, clarify the scope of the claim, information about the defendant, as well as the proportionality of the type of claim security requested by the person who applied with such a motion to the declared claims.

As explained by the Supreme Court in the ruling dated May 20, 2020, in case No. 640/13156/18 (61-7314св19), when deciding on securing a claim, the court must assess the reasonableness of the applicant's arguments regarding the necessity of taking appropriate measures, considering the following: reasonableness, justification, and adequacy of the applicant's requirements for securing the claim; ensuring a balance of interests of the parties and other participants in the judicial process; the existence of a connection between the specific measure to secure the claim and the subject of the claim, in particular, whether such a measure can ensure the actual execution of the court decision in case the claim is satisfied; the likelihood of difficulty or non-fulfillment of the court decision if such measures are not taken; prevention of violation in connection with the adoption of such measures of the rights and legally protected interests of persons who are not participants in this court process.

Regarding the proceedings reviewed by the Court of Appeal, the case materials show that the disputed land plot, purchased by the foreigner in 2019, is an object of joint ownership with his wife, a Ukrainian citizen.

The measure to secure the claim applied by the local court violated the rights of the appellant as a co-owner of the land plot and in fact constituted interference with her property rights acquired during marriage, which is a disregard of the requirements of Article 1 of the First Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Considering that the ruling of the lower court challenged by the spouses was made in violation of procedural law norms, as it was adopted without respecting the rights and legally protected interests of the co-owner of the land plot who is not a participant in this court proceeding, according to Article 376 of the CPC of Ukraine, it is subject to cancellation with the issuance of a new court decision - to deny the prosecutor's application to secure the claim.

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