Apartments of Ukrainians abroad and single pensioners become targets for fraudsters

Kyiv courts are currently reviewing 185 cases related to residential properties that may be declared escheated property or recovered from illegal possession. This indicates that the real estate of deceased owners and Ukrainians who have lived abroad for a long time is becoming a target for fraudsters.

How the escheated property mechanism works

Under the law, if a person dies without relatives and without leaving a will, their real estate is considered escheated property. Such assets must transfer to the ownership of the territorial community. After this, the housing may be allocated to people on the waiting list for apartments.

However, in practice, the real estate of deceased owners sometimes becomes the subject of fraudulent schemes. Apartments may be re-registered under forged contracts. In some cases, documents are drawn up as if the owner had signed them after their death.

Control by the Kyiv City State Administration and statistics

In Kyiv, the Department of Construction and Housing of the Kyiv City State Administration monitors the identification of such housing and the processing of escheated property. According to the department, information about ownerless apartments comes from districts, law enforcement officers, and the neighbours of the deceased.

After verifying this information, the department decides whether there are grounds to apply to the court. It is the court that can declare the property escheated. Meanwhile, in most cases, relatives of the deceased are still found. Currently, the department is involved in court cases concerning 185 residential properties. These are mostly apartments, but they also include rooms in dormitories and houses.

«На сьогодні, за поданням департаменту в судах міста Києва перебуває на розгляді 185 справ щодо визнання житлових приміщень відумерлою спадщиною, витребуваних з чужого незаконного володіння та передачі до комунальної власності територіальної громади міста Києва» (As of today, based on the department's submission, 185 cases are under review in the courts of the city of Kyiv regarding the recognition of residential premises as escheated property, their recovery from illegal possession by others, and their transfer to the communal ownership of the territorial community of the city of Kyiv), reads the response from the department director Borys Rabotnyk to a request from OBOZ.UA.

Last year, 30 real estate objects were declared escheated property. So far this year, there have been 12 such objects.

Risks for owners abroad

However, after the owner's death, information about the real estate reaches not only local authorities. There are dozens of schemes through which fraudsters may attempt to seize "free" inheritance before local authorities take an interest in it.

A separate target for criminals may be the apartments of Ukrainians who have lived abroad for a long time and do not rent out their housing. In such cases, fraudsters strive to resell the real estate as quickly as possible before the owner or other individuals notice the illegal re-registration.