Today, the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the inclusion of most of Crimea in the list of border territories came into force. The decree signed a year ago, bans foreign ownership of land almost at all territory of the peninsula.
From now on, foreigners cannot own land in 19 out of 25 Crimean municipalities, including Yevpatoria, Kerch, Sudak and Yalta, as well as in 12 municipalities of Sevastopol. An exception was made only for Simferopol, Dzhankoy, Krasnoperekopsk, Belogorsky, Krasnogvardeisky and Pervomaisky regions of the peninsula.
Thus, the Crimean legislation was synchronized with the all-Russian one, since in the Russian Federation, it is forbidden for foreign citizens to own land in the border areas and at the territories that are attributed to the border by the presidential decrees.
Most of the foreign property in the 19 forbidden municipalities of Crimea belongs to the citizens of Ukraine. In accordance with part 1 of Article 238 of the Civil Code, they are obliged to transfer the rights to their land within a year from the moment the right of ownership arises, in other words, to sell it to the Russians until today, March 20, 2021, RBC reports.
Those who did not manage to sell their land will be forced to sell plots by court order. The money will be transferred either to the owner, who did not want to part with the now illegal property or to state property with compensation to the owner. The value will be determined by the court.
In total, over 11, 500 land plots are in foreign ownership. In addition to Ukrainian citizens, they are owned by citizens of 55 states, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Australia, Vietnam, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
As the chairman of the Committee of the State Council of Crimea on Property and Land Relations Yevgeniya Dobrynya explained earlier, the decree only applies to land - houses, apartments and other buildings do not fall under its effect.
