In 2020, the rules for the lease of state and municipal property changed. The Verkhovna Rada adopted a new Law of Ukraine “On Lease of State and Municipal Property”, which dramatically changed the procedure for leasing the property. See a list of 10 major changes on the website of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.

See the infographic to find out which of these changes affected civil society organizations (CSOs).

As we can see, under the old rules, all civil society organizations were essentially on an equal footing. The only exception is two types of organizations (in the field of culture and arts and veterans or persons with disabilities) had the right to lease property without any tender. Minimum rental rates were in effect for all CSOs.

Under the new rules, CSOs are divided into those that go to an auction and those that receive property without an auction. 

The division of property into first and second lists (commercial and non-commercial property) emerges.

The NGOs listed in part 2 of Article 15 have the right to receive property without an auction at the minimum rental rates, but to do so, a lot of documents must be collected.

Those going to the auction need to collect fewer documents, but will have to compete with for-profit organizations. 

This mechanism has been in place for two years, but during this time nobody has monitored how these changes have affected CSOs’ ability to lease municipal property. With this in mind, CEDEM has prepared a questionnaire for civil society organizations to obtain the necessary feedback you can fill it out at the link). So we will be grateful for your response and further cooperation.