Odesa Region Provides 600 Free Legal Consultations on

Certain conflicts in the legislation and the lack of clear procedures and guarantees for the transfer of land plots of adjacent territories into ownership have led to a significant urgency of this problem and the need for legal assistance from specialists. In order to provide condominium and housing association managers and activists with legal assistance in exercising their right to land, the Odesa regional organization of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine implemented a partnership initiative in Odesa region.

During the three months of 2012 (July, August, September), the organization's lawyers in cooperation with the partner NGO "Economic Development Agency" (Voznesensk) provided about 600 free legal consultations and legal assistance in Odesa region on issues of registration of title documents for the adjoining territory of apartment buildings. The legal aid was provided at the organization's existing legal centers in Odesa and the cities of Odesa Oblast - Kotovsk, Tatarbunary, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. Naturally, the lion's share of appeals came from representatives of condominiums in Odesa, many of whom have been fighting for "their territory" for a long time, despite the fact that the development of condominiums has been declared a national priority.

The vast majority of applications for legal aid concerned various bureaucratic approvals in the structural units of the executive bodies of the city council when obtaining adjoining territories for condominiums; a large number of paid services (preparation of technical documentation for the adjoining territory, land management project), the lack of tariffs for services developed for condominiums; the need for decisions of several sessions of the city council; lack of coordination in the actions of local authorities and other local governments.

The educational brochure "Who owns the adjacent territory" prepared by the specialists of the Economic Development Agency was very popular among the Centers' clients.

Given the analysis of applications for legal aid, it should be noted that the main common problem that hinders the transfer of adjoining territories is the lack of a legally enshrined procedure for registering land under apartment buildings. In view of this, it is advisable to combine efforts at all levels to create transparent and understandable mechanisms for the functioning of condominiums, including in relation to the adjacent territories.

Legal advice and assistance was provided within the framework of the project "Distribution of free legal aid in the process of registration of ownership of adjoining territories", implemented by the NGO "Economic Development Agency" within the framework of the USAID project "Access to Justice and Legal Awareness in Ukraine "Legal Country", implemented by Management Systems International (MSI).

Press service
Odesa regional organization
NGO "Committee of Voters of Ukraine"

Ігор Льов