The Constitution of Ukraine guarantees every person the right to sufficient living standards that also includes the right to housing. The state must create the conditions in which every person has the possibility to build a home, purchase a dwelling to own it or rent one. Yet, as is often the case, the guarantees are only stipulated on paper, while in real life, each faces numerous obstacles accessing the aspired dwelling. Our legal company is always ready to come to your rescue and provide a precise answer to the question and help you solve all the controversies and disputes concerning housing issues.
Residential cases: rights and responsibilities of the owners
The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that no person can be deprived of housing in any way other than in compliance with the law and by a court’s decision. The European Convention on the Human Rights states that interference of a state with the use of a person of its right to housing must be legally stipulated and be executed exclusively in the interest of national and public safety and economic welfare of the country, for the purpose of law enforcement, prevention of crime occurrence, protection of health or morality, protection of rights and freedoms of other persons.
Residential Code of the Ukrainian SSR and the Civil Code of Ukraine stipulate basic rights and responsibilities of owners, users, leaseholders, and tenants – namely, every person that the law vests the right to property with: the right to own, use and dispose of the property (real estate). Currently, the norms stipulated in the Residential Code of the Ukrainian SSR do not guarantee the citizens the protection of their property rights. On the contrary, it causes numerous obstacles to exercising the right to use and dispose of the property, which leads to plenty of property rights violations and hence lawsuits filed.
Housing disputes: emergence and resolutions
Housing disputes are conflict situations that emerge between owners and users of the housing stock, state authorities, and local government. Proceedings of such cases usually end up in court – the right to bring a matter before one is stipulated in the Fundamental law (Article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine).
The Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine in its resolution on housing disputes of July 27, 2016, Docket K/800/54513/15 indicated that housing disputes are the disputes concerning residential rights, rights and interests of the citizens and the organizations, regardless of the participation in such cases of the subjects of power, and they fall within civil disputes.
The main category of the housing cases that our legal firm deals with every day is eviction cases. These may be the cases:
- on the right of residence of a former family member;
- on the eviction of a person registered at the housing by the owner of the housing;
- on the right to evict the children from corporate housing.
Also, even though the privatization process in Ukraine began back in the 1990s when the Law of Ukraine “On Privatization of State Housing” was adopted, in 2020, there is a large number of persons, who haven’t privatized their square meters yet and a large number of court cases and resolutions on housing litigation disputes concerning privatization that are still on the table. Thus, the Supreme Special Court of Ukraine concluded in the ruling of March 22, 2020, Docket 752/12075/15-ц that the housing under privatization can be privatized only with the consent of all adult family members and the parents of the minor family members.
The following disputes also fall within housing disputes:
- disputes concerning the state’s responsibility to provide persons with housing free of charge or for a reasonable fare (responsibility to put the citizens who require improved living conditions on the housing waiting list);
- the ones that emerge from legal relations in providing habitation, use dwelling premises in state or private housing, housing associations, dorms;
- on the installment of an autonomous heating in the premises of the state housing;
- on removal from the place of residence registry;
- on responsibilities of the authorities or a local government to take every measure to maintain a proper condition of a residential building;
- on eviction;
- on residential rights of persons who live in the dorms, etc.
Our company has a tried-and-tested practical base in each of the abovementioned categories of the cases. And our housing issues attorneys are ready to answer your questions or come to provide legal aid at any time.