The loss of documents certifying the right of ownership to property does not indicate the loss of the right of ownership to the property itself. Documents may be lost, damaged, destroyed, but current legislation provides for the possibility of restoring documents. How to restore lost documents was explained by the Ministry of Justice, reports UNN.
Details
"Situations often arise when the originals of documents certifying the right of ownership to real estate are lost, spoiled or damaged. The loss of documents occurs for various reasons. Unfortunately, the number of such cases has especially increased due to the war. The absence of title documents for real estate can become an obstacle in the future when resolving issues regarding the possession, use and disposal of property," the statement says.
The loss of documents certifying the right of ownership to property does not indicate the loss of the right of ownership to the property itself.
It is noted that documents may be lost, damaged, destroyed, but current legislation provides for the possibility of restoring documents certifying the right of ownership to property, and as a result, the obtained duplicates of documents will have the same legal force as the original documents.
What to do in case of document loss
According to the law, in case of loss or damage of a document certified or issued by a notary or an official of a local self-government body, upon a written application of the persons on whose behalf or in respect of whom a notarial act was performed, the notary or official of a local self-government body issues a duplicate of the lost or damaged document.
Duplicates of documents certified or issued by a notary, an official of a local self-government body, may be issued upon a written application of the successors of the persons on whose behalf or in respect of whom a notarial act was performed, and a duplicate of a mortgage agreement – including upon a written application of the mortgagee under the mortgage agreement.
Duplicates of documents certified or issued by a notary, an official of a local self-government body, may be issued upon a written application of the heirs of the persons on whose behalf or in respect of whom a notarial act was performed, as well as the executor of the will and at the request of the notary who opened the inheritance case. In such a case, the notary, in addition to the death certificate of such persons, is provided with documents confirming family ties (certificate of the executor of the will).
A duplicate document must contain the entire text of the certified or issued document, the original of which is considered to have lost its validity.
The duplicate document is marked to indicate that it has the force of the original, and a certifying inscription is made.
In addition, the notary makes a note about the issuance of a duplicate on the copy of the document stored in the files of the state notarial office, state notarial archive or private notary.
In order to prevent legal manipulations that may harm the rights and freedoms of citizens, there is a ban on notarial acts by notaries, officials of local self-government bodies, whose workplace (office) is located within the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation.
"Therefore, given the above, in each specific case, it is first necessary to find out the location of the documents of notarial record keeping and the archive of a private notary or a state notarial office, state notarial archive," the Ministry of Justice indicated.
In case of impossibility to obtain a duplicate document due to loss of access to the documents of notarial record keeping and the archive of a private notary or a state notarial office, state notarial archive (for example, due to occupation of the territory), as reported, "the person has the right to apply to the court with a claim for recognition of the right of ownership to property."
Recall
The Ministry of Justice confirmed the validity of all property rights to real estate registered in Ukraine before 2013, without the need for re-registration. Owners can, if desired, register their property rights free of charge through the ASC, a notary, or online through the "Diia" portal.