The Supreme Court annulled the illegal lease: Kyiv returns land in Bereznyaki after large-scale development by MAFs
A long-running legal case has ended in Kyiv regarding a land plot in Bereznyaki, where a large commercial facility was built under the guise of a cafe. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city community.
At the initiative of the Dnipro District Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court of Ukraine declared invalid the lease agreement for a municipal land plot located at 18 Bereznyakivska St. in Kyiv. The Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office published this information.
During the consideration of the case, it turned out that a private company had acquired ownership of a non-residential building with an area of only 79 square meters, relying on a decision of the Kyiv Commercial Court that had already been canceled.
Relying on dubious grounds for ownership, the company applied to the Kyiv City Council for a lease of the land plot, citing the need to service a public catering facility. Formally, the premises were declared as a cafe, but in reality they were used for other commercial purposes.
Having received the land for rent for 15 years, the tenant carried out reconstruction, as a result of which the area of the object increased almost ninefold, to 692 square meters, and the address of the building also changed.
Despite the apparent violations, the Kyiv Commercial Court and the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal had previously rejected the prosecutor’s application. The Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office appealed this decision in cassation.
The Supreme Court recognized the prosecutor’s arguments as well-founded, overturned the lower courts’ decisions, and fully satisfied the claim. The land lease agreement was declared invalid, and the company was obliged to return the land plot to the community by dismantling the illegally constructed non-residential building.
