Grounds for invalidation of a land lease agreement in Ukraine

The Supreme Court of Ukraine in its ruling dated 04.02.2015 in case No. 6-233цс14 determined that in the course of consideration of a claim for invalidation of a land lease agreement it is not sufficient to establish only the fact of absence of essential terms in the disputed agreement, which are required to be determined by Part 1 of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine "On Land Lease".

In addition to establishing the absence of essential terms in the land lease agreement, the court must also indicate in the reasoning part of its decision how this violated the plaintiff's subjective rights. Only then can the court's decision be considered lawful and reasonable.

For example, a violation of the landlord's rights may be the absence of a condition in the lease agreement regarding the use of the land plot for a certain purpose, which may cause damage to the land plot as the object of the landlord's property rights. The absence of a rent indexation clause in a long-term lease agreement may depreciate the lease value to an unfair level over time. The absence of a clearly defined lease term for a land plot in the agreement may cause losses to the lessee who planned to use the land plot for agricultural production for a certain period of time.

Thus, the main subject of proof in such cases will consist of at least 2 points:

• whether the land lease agreement does not contain certain essential terms and conditions required by the Law; and
• how the absence of essential terms violates the plaintiff's rights.

The above information may be useful for students and practicing lawyers who are interested in the peculiarities of dispute resolution in cases related to land relations.

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See also: normative monetary valuation of a land plot, division (merging) of a land plot in Ukraine, removal of fertile soil layer