“Is it possible to receive compensation for damaged or destroyed housing if the documents of ownership are lost?”
A soldier, Iryna, who lived in Oleshky, Kherson region, during the full-scale invasion, sought legal advice.
As of today, Iryna’s home is under occupation. Because Irina was forced to leave the city in an emergency mode, she left her ownership documents for the house she inherited from her parents in the house that is now under occupation and is currently located in the de-occupied territory and damaged by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
Because Iryna lost the document establishing her ownership of the house purchased before 2013, there is no information about her ownership in the State Register of Real Estate Ownership. The file kept in the archives of the Bureau of Technical Inventory was also destroyed during the occupation.
The combination of these events makes it impossible to receive monetary compensation for damaged property under the State Program “eRestoration”.
After analyzing the legislation of Ukraine, the paralegal recommended that Iryna go to court to confirm her property right, which she had previously acquired legally.
That is, the applicant needs to prove to the court that the title document actually existed.
As evidence for the court, Iryna used copies of the title documents for the housing and photocopies of the housing ownership document.
Iryna was also advised to attach utility bills for a certain period of time as evidence and to bring her own sister to the court hearing as a witness, who could confirm the fact that the citizen had a property right.
An extract stating that the person is registered in the house can also be used as evidence.
The paralegal recommended that the defendant be the village council or the village military administration of the settlement where the house is located. Iryna filed a corresponding statement with the court.
After considering the case and examining the evidence, the court found that Iryna did indeed have ownership rights to the housing in question and ruled in favor of the applicant.
