Can I sell my apartment in Ukraine if I am a non-resident?

Real estate in Ukraine is always a safe investment. It is used by many foreign individuals and legal entities. At some point there may be a need to sell such real estate - today we will tell you how to do it correctly from the legal point of view.

When selling real estate (let us narrow our question to the apartment, as the most common object), there are a number of legitimate questions:

●       How long after the purchase is it profitable to sell the apartment?

●       Are additional documents required from a non-resident?

●       What is the procedure for reselling the apartment by a non-resident?

●       What tax will have to be paid when selling the apartment or other real estate in Ukraine?

●       How to check the reliability of the buyer of the apartment, etc.?

We will try to answer all these questions, covering important legal nuances of the procedure that you need to know about. If you want to sell your apartment in Ukraine without any problems or unnecessary time spent on studying and organizing the process - ask our lawyers for legal help.

Related article: What taxes will I have to pay when buying an apartment in Ukraine?

Procedure for sale of an apartment by a foreign person in Ukraine

Before you make a deal to sell real estate in Ukraine, you need to do a lot of preparatory work. It will include:

●       preparation of documents on the right of ownership of the apartment - you need to check whether the contract and the certificate are in place. If there are several owners - you need to get a consent from each of them;

●       registration of the technical passport from Technical Inventory Bureau for the apartment;

●       To get a certificate about the number of registered persons in the apartment;

●       getting a certificate of absence of debts on payment of utilities;

●       property valuation;

●       preparation of personal documents - at least translation of passport certified by a notary, TIN, as well as other documents, such as the consent of the spouse for the sale of the apartment.

It is important to check that all documents are up-to-date and in compliance with legal requirements. A lawyer will be able to conduct an expert evaluation in a few hours, and will take care of obtaining the missing documents.

Once the documents are ready and a buyer is found, you can proceed to the conclusion of the contract. At this stage, you will need to take care of:

●       Checking the reliability of the counterparty (buyer);

●       Opening an account in a Ukrainian bank;

●       Proper drafting of the contract for the sale of the apartment;

●       Fidelity of registration of the transaction at the notary.

Note: We advise you to wait 3 years from the date of purchase to resell the apartment. Otherwise, you will have to pay about 20% tax on its value.

If more than three years have passed since the purchase, and the sale of the property is the first in the reporting year, the seller of the property will not have to pay taxes. In other situations you will have to pay 18% income tax and 1.5% military tax.

Rules for selling an apartment in Ukraine for a foreigner

There are certain rules that will help you go through the whole procedure of selling your apartment as safely as possible:

●       Settlement of real estate transactions in Ukraine is made only in hryvnia - the national currency, but if you want, you can write the equivalent amount in a foreign currency in the contract;

●       It is recommended to make payment for real estate transactions through a bank transfer - this requires a current account in a Ukrainian bank. There are many offers from buyers to settle the transaction in cash, but without the presence and consideration of a lawyer should not agree to such terms;

●       If you are not fluent enough in Ukrainian, you will need a certified interpreter to conduct the transaction, otherwise the notary will not be allowed to conduct the transaction;

●       It is important to make sure there is no double taxation when concluding a contract;

●       You may be offered to share the payment of the state fee for the purchase of the apartment - it is 1% of the value - this should be provided in the contract, as well as other important nuances, such as the choice of law of the country, which the parties will use in case of disputes.

If you want to sell your apartment in Ukraine safely, without losing money - contact us. We will take care of the organization of the whole procedure and the correct execution of each stage of the sale of the apartment in Ukraine.