Kyiv, April 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Association of Realtors of Ukraine plans to initiate a reduction of tax pressure on the procedures for transfer of ownership rights to property.

President of the Association of Realtors of Ukraine Serhiy Zlyden said that with the introduction of property, the tax taxation of the procedures for transfer of ownership rights to property must be lifted.

"There is no such tax pressure on one transaction in any other country: 1% to the pension fund, 1% of the state duty of the real value of property. If property is sold one more time during three years – 5% is added. The taxmen also believe that the privatization act is the first act of sale and purchase and up to 7% of the cost of the deal could be taken, with the annual tax on property," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on April 15.

Director of Kyiv Regional Department of the Association of Realtors of Ukraine Dmytro Korchev said at the press conference that the expensiveness of property registration procedures makes transactions on the secondary market unaffordable for Kyiv residents.

Korchev said that the largest financial burden on the public is laid during procedures settled by notaries, the State Registration Service, the State Agency for Land Resources and the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate.

"The Justice Ministry allowed dilettanti to work on the market, who are not able to consult clients. It costs from UAH 800 to UAH 1,600 to submit the documents to the registration, while in the State Registration Service the procedure costs UAH 350. And this is only one entry in the register per person. What if the family consists of four persons?" Korchev said.

"A pensioner addressed me asking to re-register her apartment to her daughter; we calculated that this will cost at least UAH 16,000. The state will receive only UAH 2,000, and the rest of the sum is revenues of notaries," he said.

Korchev said that the important element of the corruption schemes is lines to the said agencies, which gave rise to the shadow market.

"According to Ukrainian law, one can receive an extract at the State Registration Service during 14 days - in fact, over one or two months. There are plenty of announcements in the Internet on provision of help in undergoing the procedures," he said.

"The Justice Ministry gave birth to a monster who collects money at all these stages. If this is removed, Kyiv residents will be able to settle their housing problems themselves," Korchev said.

Director of the Law Committee of the Association of Realtors of Ukraine Yuriy Pita said that the new rules of appraising property that took effect from February 2014 have resulted in the increase in the cost of services, the reduction of their quality and growth in the execution terms.

"We've decided to increase our influence on the legislation: we'll protect not only the realtor society, but entrepreneurship in general. We'll work on the relaxation of taxation, improvement of execution of legal process as many facilities are sold at auctions, while the system of the auctions comes short of satisfactory. We also have to work on this," Pita said.