While it was only in January 2015 that Ukraine got its first public real estate registry, an online database that allows every Ukrainian to find out who owns what real estate in the country, the system is flawed.
When the registry was first launched by the Ministry of Justice, lawmaker Yehor Sobolev called it “the most important anti-corruption law” on the real estate market and land ownership data.
The register is indeed a step forward for transparency, as investigative journalists and activists, as well as real estate professionals, can now make background checks and monitor real estate deals much more easily.
But the system still has problems, including missing and incorrect data, limited search functions and possible security shortcomings.
How it works
The service, for a fee (Hr 20 or $0.70), grants users access to names of property owners, building maintenance records, its mortgage history and much more. But despite masses of information now being available in the register, users still complain about missing records and poor search options, as well as lots of data-entry errors.
Olena Biberova, general director of real estate agency Blagovist, has been using the register since its launch and has generally been satisfied with the results.
“It’s very convenient, easy and transparent,” said Biberova.
Her agency’s legal department checks the register for information on building ownership, court decisions or any legal violations before performing each real estate deal. This reduces potential risks, Biberova said.
Outdated system
Having access to all this information is good, but only if you can find what you’re looking for among those mounds of data.
However, when it comes, for instance, to common Ukrainian last names such as Shevchenko, the registry’s search engine lacks the filters that allow users identify a specific person. Biberova also said that data-entry errors are also common.
And according to a report done by investigative journalist Denys Bigus, who analyzed more than 80,000 records within the register, sometimes the required data is simply missing altogether.
For instance, most records prior to 2012 are not available. Data on previous owners is lacking as well.
Moreover, while the Justice Ministry is responsible for keeping real estate data, land documentation is administrated by another institution – StateGeoCadastre – an executive body agency overseen by the Cabinet Ministers of Ukraine. StateGeoCadastre registers land ownership and manages the state land cadaster.
Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said both registries should be merged to eliminate the possibility of abuses and raider attacks: even though StateGeoCadastre keeps its registry mainly in electronic format, there are still a lot of hard-copy records as well, which are harder to search. Back in August, Pavlenko said that this would be taken care of once StateGeoCadastre was placed under his ministry’s jurisdiction.
Oleksiy Viskub, deputy head of the State Agency on Issues of Electronic Government, said that many Ukrainians have worries about the integrity of the register’s data.
“We have to admit that there is a lack of confidence from society in the work of some basic state registries,” Viskub said. “The main concern comes from possibility that documents could be backdated.”
Possible solutions
To secure data, the Viskub’s agency plans to use blockchain technology to upgrade the register by the end of 2017.
Blockchain, an encrypted technology that links and stores data in chains, will secure the information effectively, Viskub said.
“Each action is not only written chronologically, but (blockchain) records contain data on who modified date, when, and how many times,” Viskub told the Kyiv Post via email. “It will be impossible to delete this information.”
Viskub hopes the technology will increase trust and cooperation between the authorities, citizens, and business.
While the state real estate service is seeking to improve the registry, tech company Liga Zakon has developed a service called SMS-Mayak that allows its users to monitor any changes on real estate in the registry without the need to repeatedly send requests for access.
The service was developed as a tool to protect real estate and land from scammers and raider attacks.
SMS-Mayak allows a client to monitor multiple objects and receive notifications if the data about it in the registry changes. The service monitors buildings for a fee (Hr 30 or $1.1 per month) and sends a message or an email to the client if there are any changes, such as a change in property ownership.
A more advanced feature notifies users of any requests or applications related to a building, according to Andriy Kravchenko, an SMS-Mayak product manager. The fee is Hr 300 ($ 11) per building per month.
Kravchenko said the second option is handy if an owner is afraid their property is at risk of a raider attack. Owners will be notified of any changes to the register as soon as they are made, allowing them to counter an attempted attack early on in the courts.
