A Notary System Without Borders: Why Expanding Notaries’ Powers Is a Demand of Our Time

Imagine a Ukrainian who inherits a house in a village hundred of kilometers from their home. Or a farmer who waits in line for months to buy a small share of land and invest in the future. For thousands of citizens, these scenarios are not hypothetical, but real.

They face an invisible but strong wall built on the outdated principle of territoriality in the Ukrainian notary system. In an era of digital registries and instant access to information, the requirement to perform notarial acts in a strictly defined location—a “notarial district”—has become a source of inefficiency, overpayments, and justified dissatisfaction.

This system, enshrined in Article 13-1 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Notariat,” rigidly ties a notary to an administrative-territorial unit, usually a district.

Historically, this logic made sense when a notary needed physical access to local archives. Today, when all key data is contained in unified state electronic registries, this attachment has lost any justification. Instead, it has created local monopolies where the absence of competition breeds queues, inflated prices, and low-quality services. It is time to admit that the system intended to guarantee order has become an obstacle to the free disposal of property.

The Price Paradox and Hidden Costs

At first glance, notary services in the capital should be the most expensive. The cost of formalizing a purchase agreement in Kyiv can reach UAH 10,000 or more, while the average price across Ukraine ranges from UAH 12,000 to 15,000. However, complaints about high costs in the regions have a solid economic basis, which lies not in the absolute figures, but in their ratio to the value of the asset.

The key to understanding this paradox is “proportional transaction cost.” The amount of work a notary does to verify documents and enter data into registries is almost independent of the object’s price. However, the value of the real estate or land itself differs drastically between Kyiv and a small regional center. As analysts note, an absurd situation arises in some regions where buying a plot of land worth UAH 20,000 requires paying about UAH 15,000 for its registration. The transaction loses all economic sense.

This system effectively deprives owners of the ability to freely dispose of their property, making the sale of small land shares unprofitable. In fact, this not only violates their rights but also stimulates the development of a shadow market, where deals are concluded based on powers of attorney, undermining the very essence of the notary system as an institution of legal certainty. Delays are an additional burden—waiting 1 to 1.5 months for a transaction, partly due to procedural requirements, is not just an inconvenience but a real financial loss in an inflationary environment.

A Step Towards a European Future

Expanding the powers of notaries is not just a technical change, but a fundamental step towards creating a modern, flexible, and citizen-oriented notary system. International experience, particularly from Poland, where full national extraterritoriality for real estate transactions is in effect, proves the effectiveness of such a model. It is based on the high status of the notary as a “person of public trust” and a reliable digital infrastructure—the very elements that Ukraine is actively developing today.

Introducing extraterritoriality within an oblast (region) is a balanced first step that will launch market mechanisms without creating excessive risks. This reform is a logical element of a larger vision—a transition to a “single notariat” model of the Latin type, where the notary becomes a universal “first-contact” legal professional, capable of registering marriages, securing evidence for court, and providing a wide range of services.

Delaying this reform means preserving an inefficient system that creates barriers for citizens and businesses. Its adoption, on the contrary, will be a powerful signal that the state is working to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and truly protect the right to property—one of the cornerstones of any successful economy.

Specially for AgroPortal.ua