Who and how valuates real estate in Ukraine
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Expert valuation of real estate most people need only a few times in life. Most often, when concluding a notarial transaction for the sale of property or when registering the right to inheritance. Also, such services may be required when applying to the court to resolve a variety of issues: from registration of ownership due to lack of necessary documents to the distribution of property in the divorce of spouses. After a full-scale invasion of the aggressor country, many citizens found themselves abroad. Therefore, cases have become more frequent when a valuation of real estate in Ukraine is required for presentation to foreign services for calculating social payments or calculating taxes in the host country.
Due to the fact that the need for such services is rare, a person, being in one of the above situations, does not understand who to turn to for the production of documents. We offer to understand this, because the question is who has the right to conduct and how the valuation of real estate in Ukraine.
What is the difference, for what is the real estate valuation?
If you analyze the sites of leading appraisal companies, you will notice that each of them separately describes the features of services depending on what the valuation is for. For example, on the web-portal «Valuation.Ukraine» ( https://оцінка.укр ) right on the main page is the following distribution of services:
- Valuation of real estate for tax purposes (notary).
- Judicial valuation – for use in a variety of litigation.
- Determination of the market value of property for accounting purposes.
Separately, it is noted that the valuation procedure itself and the peculiarities of paperwork depend on where these documents will be provided.
Valuation for notary
The most common case when a person needs documents on the determination of value is the re-registration of real estate. We already wrote that in fact for this it is not necessary to contact appraisers. After all, a free valuation service from the State Property Fund has been operating in Ukraine for several years. Any interested person can form an extract on the free so-called "state valuation" and go to the notary with this certificate. Interestingly, this certificate of estimated value is issued instantly and free of charge, and also does not require any signatures and seals. The electronic document contains a unique registration number, which just needs to be shown to the notary.
In fact, it is very convenient, modern and fully fits into the concept of a digital state. However, sometimes an automatic service can give an objectively inflated value of the property, which can be challenged through an appeal to real estate appraisers. And here it is worth paying attention to two features:
- Firstly, there are no state appraisal companies in Ukraine. If you need services to determine the market value of any property, you need to contact private firms. However, of course, only to those who have all the permits for this type of activity. At the same time, not only the company must have a valid certificate from the SPFU, but each of the appraisers must have a qualification certificate and a document on the next advanced training.
- Secondly, even appraisers cannot make a valuation that will differ significantly from the above-mentioned state one. And, if you find yourself in a situation where the automatically determined value differs from the market price, for example, one and a half times, this issue will need to be resolved individually with the SPFU reviewers.
Thus, the main characteristic feature of the valuation for tax purposes is that it "focuses" on the automatic state valuation. At the same time, the cost indicated in this certificate from the SPFU register may not correspond to real market prices, because it is calculated automatically on the basis of an array of averaged values, that is, it does not fully take into account the features of a particular real estate object.
Valuation for use in litigation
Photo: https://realexpert.ua
On another site of those who occupy the first positions of search on the Internet, «Evaluation UA» ( https://ocinka.ua ) valuation for court cases is also considered separately. Unlike a notary, a court cannot use a free state automatic valuation, because, as mentioned above, it does not always correspond to market prices.
Therefore, if the appraiser produces documents for presentation in court, he determines the value of any property, including real property, without looking back at any automatic registers. And calculates the market value of exactly the object that is the subject of a lawsuit. With an emphasis on all the features and characteristics of this particular object, and not just benchmarks for average prices on the real estate market of the settlement.
Valuation for the court, unlike notarial actions, can be carried out even in the case when there are no documents for real estate. Moreover, even when the plaintiff has neither access to the disputed property, nor even information about its main parameters. For example, a citizen may believe that the notarization of the right to inheritance violated his right as heir. He must file a statement of claim with the office of the court along with an expert valuation to determine the value of the property and, accordingly, the amount of the court fee. And at the same time he may not know at what exact address or on what floor is, for example, an apartment, what is its area and physical condition.
Determination of cost for accounting purposes
Even those who are far from the accounting spheres of activity, it is clear that for proper accounting and tax valuation, it is constantly necessary to determine the fair value of various assets.
Valuation of real estate for accounting purposes is closer in nature to the judicial valuation, because it does not focus on any automatic state register. The activities of accountants, appraisers and auditors also have many specific features, but their detailed consideration is not interesting to the general public, so it is beyond the scope of this article.
Who to contact for expert valuation
Let's briefly summarize.
There are no state valuation institutions in Ukraine. If you need to determine the value of property, you need to look for private appraisers. It is worth using the recommendations of friends or just searching the Internet. A serious proven firm is easy to distinguish by the number and quality of reviews on Google maps, because they are very difficult to falsify.
The great importance is the purpose for which the valuation is carried out. Depending on where the valuation report or other document on determining the value of the property will be provided, the procedure for conducting and the cost of services may differ significantly. For example, for a notary, you can independently obtain a free certificate of the automatically determined value of the property. But when going to court without the involvement of professional appraisers can not do.
