Draft Law of Ukraine

“On Amendment of the Law of Ukraine “On Land Lease”

This draft law defines objects of lease as the land plots with precisely determined location, being in private, communal or state ownership.

Landlords of land plots can be:

• their owners (legal entities and natural persons or their authorized representatives) provided that leased out land plots are privately owned;
• village, township, city/town radas if the leased out land plots are owned by municipalities;
• the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, oblast and district radas if the leased out lands are jointly owned by territorial communities;
• district, oblast, Kyiv and Sevastopol city state administrations, the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine if the leased out land plots are owned by state.

According to the draft, tenants may be:

• foreigners;
• stateless persons;
• foreign legal entities;
• international associations and organizations;
• foreign states.

One of the essential terms of a lease agreement is the lease payment (amount, indexation, form of payment, deadlines and procedures of its contribution and revision, responsibility for failure to make it). Its amount is to be determined by mutual consent of the parties to a lease agreement. At the same time, the draft provides the opportunity to determine an approximate amount of a lease payment for the use of agricultural lands. To this end, coordination commissions will be created under state bodies of land resources. Representatives of regional associations of tenants and landowners, landlords, bodies of local self-government may participate in the work of the coordination commissions. Approximate amount of lease payment will be revised every three years.

Lease agreement is subject to state registration with state bodies of land resources. Notarization thereof may take place if the parties to the agreement have consented thereto or lease payment is contributed in advance for the period longer than one year.

According to the draft, duration of land lease agreement is determined by the parties thereto, but it cannot exceed fifty years.

Adoption of this draft law will allow to adjust relationships in the area of land plots leasing and to resolve differences, which have arisen during implementation of regulations of the Law “On Land Lease”.