The new Civil Code wants to introduce a “right of expectation” for real estate: what does this mean?

The draft Civil Code proposes to create a separate property right for future owners of real estate

The draft of the new Civil Code of Ukraine No. 15150 proposes to introduce a separate property right of anticipation in relation to real estate.

This concerns the right of a person in the future to acquire ownership or another property right to a real estate object. At the same time, they stated that the implementation of such a model may require a large-scale restructuring of the state registration system and adaptation of current legislation.

What is a “right of anticipation”

In Book 3 of the draft Civil Code, it is proposed to introduce a separate Chapter 36 — “Property Right of Expectation”.

According to the draft, a person who will have such a right will be able to:

acquire ownership or a limited property right to real estate in the future;

demand the completion of the construction of the object;

demand the commissioning of the object in accordance with the terms of the contract.

At the same time, the subject of the right of expectation will be obliged to:

make payments stipulated by the contract;
pay the costs of construction or acquisition of real estate;
perform other obligations specified by law.
The right of expectation is proposed to be registered and sold

The draft provides that the real right of expectation will be subject to state registration and will arise from the moment of entry in the register.

It is also allowed to be alienated. It is planned to apply the rules on the assignment of the right of claim to such legal relations, unless otherwise established by law or contract.

At the same time, the sale or transfer of the real estate object itself will not terminate the right of expectation.

This is not only about future apartments

The right of expectation is proposed to be applied:

to real estate that will be built or purchased in the future;
to already existing objects.

The subjects of such a right may be:

investors;
developers;
construction customers.

Also, the right of expectation may belong to several persons at the same time, with the determination of the shares of each participant.

Notary Chamber warns of possible problems

They noted that the concept of the right of expectation is theoretically written out clearly and clearly.

However, the Chamber recalled that in Ukraine already:

a Unified State Electronic System in the field of construction is in operation;
a special property right has been introduced;
a new system for registering rights to future real estate has been created;
a significant number of new buildings and special property rights have been registered.

According to the NPU, the implementation of the new mechanism may require large-scale revision of state registers and changes to existing procedures.

The legal analysis emphasizes that such an adaptation may be “extremely complex, and possibly unrealistic.”

The NPU drew attention to legal conflicts

The Notary Chamber separately indicated that some provisions of the draft on collateral do not take into account the right of expectation as a possible subject of collateral.

The chamber also recommends not using specific names of state registers in the Civil Code, as they may change.

According to the NPU, detailed rules for state registration should be determined by separate laws, not the Civil Code itself.