A dacha plot at auction: gardening land from enforcement officers and communities

A small plot with a garden house not far from the city can be bought not only from its owner. Debtors’ dacha plots are sold at open auctions on Prozorro.Sale — and the starting price is often below the market. Here is what these lots are and how to buy them without unpleasant surprises.

What gardening land is

It is agricultural land with the code 01.05 — “for individual gardening”. These are usually small plots in garden cooperatives: from a few hundred square metres to 1,000–1,200, occasionally more. On such a plot you can keep an orchard and a vegetable garden and put up a garden house and outbuildings. If you need land for a full residential house in a village or town, see the article on plots for a house; for a vegetable plot or a smallholding, see personal farming land.

Where the lots come from

Almost all dacha plots on Prozorro.Sale are seized and mortgaged land sold by state and private enforcement officers: the “Seized land” group. Most of these lots are in Kyiv Oblast, followed by Lviv and Odesa Oblasts. If nobody came to the auction, the lot is offered again at a markdown — the title says so: “2nd auction”, “3rd auction. Markdown…”. Occasionally communities lease gardening plots — those are in the “Land lease” group.

Who can buy

This is agricultural land, so it can be bought into ownership by citizens of Ukraine and Ukrainian companies that meet the legal requirements; foreigners cannot. Payments are cashless, and the buyer is checked before the right is registered. The terms of a particular auction are in the announcement.

What to check

• The plot on site. Find it on the Public Cadastral Map by its cadastral number, then visit the cooperative: whether the boundaries match the fence, whether there is access in winter.
• What stands on the land. The lot may include only the plot although there is a house on it — registered to someone or not registered at all. Find out before the auction: someone else’s building on your land means long disputes.
• Whether the whole plot is sold. There are shares. Read the lot title to the end.
• The cooperative. Talk to the chairperson: the previous owner’s unpaid dues, electricity and water, security, plans for the roads. Formally the old debts are not yours, but getting power connected for a new owner often starts with this conversation.
• Neighbours and the former owner. Whether anyone uses the plot, whether the debtor is challenging the auction.
• Total cost. Add the marketplace fee and the cost of registering the right — the procedure is described in the announcement.

The general risks of such auctions are covered in the article on seized property.

How to take part

1. Register on one of the accredited Prozorro.Sale e-marketplaces.
2. Pay the registration fee and the guarantee deposit and apply before the application deadline shown on the lot page.
3. On auction day, raise the price online; the highest offer wins.
4. After winning — the protocol, payment within the deadline in the announcement, the auction certificate and registration of ownership.

Seized gardening plots

Cheapest right now

A plot in the cooperative you want comes up rarely. Save a filter with your region — the radar will message you in Telegram as soon as a new lot appears.

This is an overview for orientation, not legal advice. The binding terms of each auction are in its announcement and documents on prozorro.sale.