Smallholding land at auction: how to buy or lease a plot for personal farming in Ukraine

“For personal farming” (особисте селянське господарство, OSG) is the designated purpose of vegetable plots outside villages, former land shares and the two-hectare plots once handed out to residents. These are the most numerous lots on Prozorro.Sale: from a few hundred square metres for a garden to holdings of several hectares. Here is how to buy or lease one and what to watch out for.

What personal farming land is

It is agricultural land with the code 01.03. You can grow produce for yourself and for sale, keep livestock and put up farm buildings on it. But you cannot build a residential house on such a plot until its designated purpose is changed — and not every plot allows that: it depends on the community’s planning documents. If you need land for housing, start with the article on plots for a house.

Three sources of lots

• Seized plots. The vast majority of these lots are private land of debtors sold by state and private enforcement officers, including mortgaged land. The “Seized land” group. Prices are lower here and drop further at repeat auctions, but read carefully what is being sold: there are shares of a plot and even a lease right instead of ownership. The risks are covered in the article on seized property.
• Sale by a community. Councils sell communal plots into ownership — the “Land sale” group. The plot’s history is clean, but the price is closer to the market.
• Lease. The right to lease a communal plot — the “Land lease” group. Bidding is on the annual rent; terms among the lots in our database range from one year to ten and more. It is the cheapest way to get land for a garden, hay or a small farm.

Who can buy

Agricultural land can be acquired into ownership by citizens of Ukraine and by Ukrainian companies that meet the legal requirements; foreigners are not allowed to buy it. There is a cap on the total area held by one owner, payments are cashless only, and the notary checks the buyer before certifying the contract. In some cases the tenant or a neighbour has a pre-emptive right to buy. All of this is a reason to check the announcement and consult a lawyer before paying the fees. These restrictions do not apply to leases.

What to check

• The cadastral number. Find the plot on the Public Cadastral Map: shape, neighbours, access. A plot “in the field” with no road is cheaper for a reason.
• What exactly is sold. The whole plot or a share, ownership or a lease right, whether there is a mortgage.
• Who uses it now. Seized land is often farmed by a tenant under a valid contract — the tenant stays after the owner changes. Check the registered lease rights.
• Restrictions. Protection zones, drainage systems, shelter belts, water bodies nearby.
• Price. Compare with other lots in the district: the region page in the catalogue shows the average price per hectare.

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 and the contract (or the auction certificate for seized property) within the deadlines in the announcement, then registration of the right.

Seized personal farming plots

Plots sold by communities

Plots for lease

There are thousands of such lots, and you need one — in your own village. Save a filter, adding the region and the name of the locality — 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.