For more than two years, the lease of public property in Ukraine has been conducted exclusively through electronic auctions in Prozorro.Sale. This has made the process faster and more transparent for all. The war has made some adjustments to the procedure, but the lease is still taking place through an electronic system. In this material, we explain how you can rent public or municipal property during the war.

Where to look for property for rent?

First of all, we advise you to look for an object to your liking among the rental announcements on Prozorro.Sale. To do this, click the Rent tab and apply additional filters, such as a region or a key word. These are the objects for which the auction date has already been selected.

If in this way you could not find the desired object, also look among the Lists of objects for which a decision to lease has been made.

When a lessee makes such a decision, they must include the object in one of the Lists for lease and publish it in Prozorro.Sale.

Basically, there are two types of lists:

1)    For property that can be rented through an electronic auction by anyone other than those who are prohibited from being lessees under article 4 of the Law. In particular, these are persons under sanctions, citizens or enterprises of the aggressor country, employees of the lessee.

2)    For property that can be rented without an auction and which can only be claimed by individuals defined by Article 15 of the Law. For example, public authorities, municipal institutions, museums, civil society organizations of sports or rehabilitation direction.

Recently, among the filters of the types of lists, a new one appeared in the system — “Relocation.” These are premises to be leased to enterprises that relocate their production from dangerous regions.

Unfortunately, not all lessees upload their lists to Prozorro.Sale. Therefore, in addition to the system, we advise you to search for objects for rent also using the site orenda.gov.ua and in particular its map, or on the websites of local self-government bodies.

If you like a certain object, you can apply for its lease. Then the lessee will start preparing the auction and publish an announcement about it. The auction itself during martial law should take place within 5-35 days from the date of publication of the announcement.

What if I want to rent a specific object, but it is not yet in the Lists?

Any person can initiate the transfer of property for rent. That is, if you liked certain premises or a building in your city, you know that it is not used, and would like to rent it — go to one of the accredited platforms and apply.

Previously, the management body had up to 40 working days to decide whether to lease the object. During the war, this time was reduced to 7 working days. At the same time, if the management body does not make any decision, it will be considered a consent automatically. When the decision is made, the balance holder must notify the applicant and the lessee. The latter must include the object in one of the Lists and publish the rental announcement within 20 working days after that.

However, these rules do not apply in areas where active hostilities have taken place or are taking place. There, the decision to lease the property is made by the military administration. The solution of the balance holder is not required.

What if I’m looking for an object to rent for relocation?

The most convenient way for business now is to apply for relocation. The state will help to choose premises in a safe region, and, if necessary, will help with transportation itself.

It is for this program that lists of objects for relocation have been created. They include not only municipal and public property, but also premises which private owners are ready to lease to relocated enterprises.

Another option is to look for the object for rent simply through Prozorro.Sale and participate in the auction with everyone. If you choose this path, we advise you to contact the regional military administration at the location of the desired rental object in order to obtain a petition to facilitate the production relocation. If you win the auction, present this document to the lessee, and you will be able to pay rent for the first half of the year at a preferential rate of UAH 1/m². Important: such a petition should be received no later than the day before the auction.

How is a rental auction conducted?

When you have selected an object on Prozorro.Sale, from its page, you need to go to one of the authorized platforms to submit your bid.

At the first stage, the property is put up for auction at a 100% cost. That is, in your bid, you must offer a price that is higher than this expected cost. Moreover, at this stage you need to pay guarantee and registration fees.

If the first auction did not take place — for example, there were no interested buyers or the buyer, who won the auction, refused to buy — announce the second stage. At the second stage, the property is offered with a 50% discount.

If the second auction did not take place either, the third stage is held — the so-called Dutch auction. The property is exhibited, as in the previous stage, with a 50% discount, but the electronic system automatically and gradually reduces its value until one of the participants stops the auction. This will mean that the participant is ready to buy the lot for this amount. After that, other potential lessors, if they wish, can offer a larger amount, and then the process takes place in reverse order, as at a regular auction. The winner is the one who offers the biggest bet.

What should the winner do?

Of course, sign the necessary documents. All the documents — the protocol on the results of the auction, the lease agreement and the act of acceptance and transfer — under martial law, can be signed with an electronic signature. Unless you want paper documents with a physical signature.

The winner of the auction also has to pay an advance payment and a security deposit. Previously, for public property, their amount was determined by the local self-government body, for municipal property — they were 2 monthly rents. However, at the time of the war, the advance payment and security deposit are paid in the amount of one monthly rent each. At the same time, state authorities and local self-government bodies, the Pension Fund, and budgetary institutions and organizations are exempt from paying these contributions while martial law is in force.

Read more about the benefits in the lease of public and municipal property during the war in the material.

In addition, for the period of martial law, all information about participants and winners of auctions is anonymous and will not be disclosed after the auction. Documents based on auction results will not be displayed until the end of the war in the system.