It is no coincidence that land management has been chosen as the focus of one of the Regional Office’s first events this year, as this is a deliberate response to the needs of local authorities. According to Anatolii Parkhomiuk, the Head of the Regional Office, the dialogue between municipalities and state bodies is what enables complex challenges to be resolved promptly, from land surveys to ensuring a stable revenue stream for local budgets.
“We are continuing the fine tradition of organising partnership events — professional dialogue that enables municipalities to get answers to complex questions directly from leading experts within government bodies. The land sector has always been, and remains, the cornerstone of local self-government; therefore, our office serves as the vital link that helps municipalities to develop their territories effectively”.
Updating land valuations: challenges and success stories
Oleksandr Semeniuk, the Head of Volyn Centre for State Land Cadastre, also emphasised the importance of this issue for the local municipalities in the oblast and cited statistics illustrating the scale of the changes required in Volyn Oblast. According to him, out of more than a thousand settlements in the oblast, 730 required an urgent update to their standard monetary valuation (SMV).
The standard monetary valuation assists municipalities in determining the value of land plots based on their category and form of ownership. It is a key element in the field of land relations, as it provides an objective basis for calculating land tax and rent, which, in turn, affects the revenues of local budgets.
“That is a very large figure, and it highlights the scale of the problem. That said, the process is moving forward, and work is continuing. For example, officials of Poromiv rural municipality are well aware that we have already completed work in nine settlements, with a further nine submitted for registration and the documentation approved,” said Oleksandr Semeniuk.
The expert also stressed the importance of establishing precise boundaries of municipalities. Today, 17 out of 54 municipalities in the oblast have completed or are in the process of completing this work. However, it should be noted that the preparation of this land management documentation is often fraught with technical disputes between neighbouring municipalities regarding boundaries. Nonetheless, he concluded that if the municipality is keen to regulate its leasing arrangements and establish clear boundaries, this task is of vital importance.
Legal intricacies of privatisation: 3 answers to 3 questions
The meeting also touched upon the two types of land plots that are most frequently the subject of inquiries from local residents. The first case is about the privatisation of real estate. Andrii Pohorilyi, an Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government at the Regional Office, explained that in a situation like this, holding a registered title to a residential building or farm building is a mandatory prerequisite for registering the land.
The second, more complex case concerns plots of land that were in use prior to 2001. In this situation, municipalities need to confirm the legal transfer of the land, rather than merely its actual use.
“You must confirm the legal fact that the plot has been transferred for use. It is important to distinguish between actual use (where a person has simply been using the land) and legal use that is subject to a relevant decision by a competent authority. A routine entry in the ledger is not enough,” stated the adviser.
He underlined that confirmation could take the form of a decision by a local self-government body, a state deed or another title-establishing document issued prior to the entry into force of the new Land Code.
The adviser drew attention to a third type of case that emerged in the legislation at the end of 2025 in light of the current circumstances:
“Indeed, here is another instance where privatisation is possible. These are cases where a property located on a land plot has been destroyed due to hostilities. Please note that ownership of this type of property must have been registered in the State Register of Property Rights”.
Willingness to cooperate
This event was just the first step in U-LEAD’s plan to support municipalities in Volyn Oblast in 2026. At the end of the event, Anatolii Parkhomiuk, the Head of the Regional Office, emphasised:
“We’re not just here to identify the problems facing municipalities; we aim to work together to find ways to solve them. We invite every municipality in Volyn Oblast to get actively involved: share your challenges, ask questions and suggest new topics for discussion. Only through a partnership like this will we be able to establish an effective resource management system and build truly capable local self-government”.
