Leasing a pond at auction: how to get a water body in Ukraine for use

A pond for fish farming, paid fishing or recreation cannot simply be “arranged at the village council”. State and communal water bodies are leased only through an electronic auction — together with the land plot they sit on. Here is how it works.

What is sold at auction

A lot is the right to lease a water fund land plot together with the water body located on it: a pond, a reservoir, a lake. That is how the announcement words it. These are land auctions, so the lots are in the “Land lease” group, and the rules are broadly the same as in our land lease guide.

The organizer is usually a village, settlement or city council. The announcement states:

• the plot area and cadastral number;
• the designated purpose — most often “for fishery needs”, less often recreational;
• the starting annual rent — this is what bidders compete on;
• the lease term — from 7 to 49 years among the lots in our database;
• the guarantee deposit, bid step, application deadline and auction date.

What to check before bidding

• The pond itself. Go and look: water level, silting, overgrowth, the state of the banks, road access. The cadastral number will help you find the plot on the Public Cadastral Map.
• The water body passport. It gives the surface area, volume, depths and the source of water. It should be among the lot documents.
• The dam and hydraulic structures. Find out who owns them and who is responsible for their condition: the structures may have a separate owner or require a separate contract. Repairing a dam is the most expensive surprise a tenant can get.
• The draft contract. What is allowed (aquaculture, paid fishing, recreation), which restrictions apply in the riparian strip, how the rent is revised, whether subleasing is possible.
• Neighbours and history. Who used the pond before, whether there are disputes with the community, whether the lot has been offered before — the lot page has a “Previous auctions of this asset” block.

Tenant obligations

The tenant pays rent for the land and the water body, keeps the water body and its banks in proper condition, and complies with the water use regime and environmental requirements. Fish farming also requires stocking and record-keeping under aquaculture rules. Pay attention to general water use as well: the terms of local residents’ access to the water are set out in the contract — read them before the auction, not after.

How to take part

1. Find a lot: in the catalogue they are found by the Ukrainian words “водного” (water), “ставок” (pond), “рибогосподарських” (fishery). Add your region.
2. Register on one of the accredited Prozorro.Sale e-marketplaces.
3. Pay the registration fee and the guarantee deposit and submit an application with documents before the application deadline.
4. On auction day, raise the annual rent; the highest offer wins.
5. After winning — the protocol, the lease contract and registration of the lease right within the deadlines in the announcement. The winner usually also reimburses the cost of preparing the lot.

Not to be confused with commercial fishing

Separately, the State Agency of Fisheries sells on Prozorro.Sale the right to commercial fishing — the use of aquatic bioresources in estuaries, reservoirs and rivers for a given year. This is not a lease of a water body: the winner gets the right to catch fish, not to use the site.

Water bodies currently accepting applications

Commercial fishing rights

Ponds in your region are easy to track automatically: save a filter — 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.