A servitude under Ukrainian civil law is what common-law jurisdictions call an easement: a right of limited use over another person's land plot or other real estate — right of way, access, or the right to lay and operate utility lines. Because a servitude restricts the owner's rights, its creation is normally accompanied by compensation. The Kanzas company provides independent expert monetary valuation of easement rights and of the payment due for a servitude over Ukrainian land.
In practice, the need for an easement valuation most often arises when infrastructure — power lines, telecom cables, pipelines, water supply — is routed across privately held plots, and when access has to be secured to a plot with no direct connection to a public road. For international energy, telecom and infrastructure operators working in Ukraine, an independent valuation is the standard way to put the compensation figure on a defensible footing.
When an easement valuation is needed
- a servitude is being negotiated with the landowner and the payment has to be substantiated;
- a utility corridor project is being planned across third-party land;
- a dispute has arisen over the amount of compensation, including in Ukrainian court proceedings;
- an existing servitude is being terminated or the right is being bought out;
- easement rights and obligations are reviewed in a due diligence of Ukrainian assets.
What exactly is valued
- The easement right — the value of the limited-use right for the party in whose favor the servitude is created;
- The servitude payment — the compensation due to the owner of the burdened plot for the restriction of rights and the resulting loss in land value. This is the Ukrainian counterpart of what a UK reader would recognize as wayleave compensation for utility apparatus.
How the compensation is measured
The analysis rests on the diminution in value of the burdened plot — the before-and-after logic familiar to right of way appraisal practice worldwide:
- area of the servitude zone and its share of the total plot;
- designated use and market value of the land;
- nature of the restrictions and the term of the servitude;
- the degree to which utility and market value of the plot are reduced;
- income the owner loses on the occupied part of the land.
The valuation is performed as an expert monetary valuation under the Ukrainian national standards, methodologically consistent with the International Valuation Standards (IVS), using the sales comparison approach (market rates for comparable easements and land leases) and the income approach (capitalization or discounting of the owner's lost income and the use payment). Normative (administrative) land valuation is not applicable for these purposes.
Site identification and documents
Ukrainian valuation law requires the valuer to inspect the land plot and identify the servitude zone in person — a mandatory stage of the engagement, which we arrange on site without the client needing to be present in Ukraine.
Typical document set:
- extract from the State Register of Property Rights and title documents for the plot;
- extract from the State Land Cadastre and cadastral plan;
- the servitude agreement or its draft, where available;
- data on the designated use of the plot and existing encumbrances.
Send the plot details and the purpose of the valuation to [email protected] — we will quote a fixed fee and timeline. Our practice with land plots and property rights in Ukraine spans more than 20 years, and our reports withstand scrutiny in court and before public authorities.
Questions and answers
How much does an easement valuation in Ukraine cost? We quote a fixed fee and schedule after receiving the plot data — area, designated use, the extent of the servitude zone — and the purpose of the valuation. Scope and price are agreed before the engagement is signed.
How is the payment for a land servitude determined? Through the compensation owed to the owner for the restriction of rights: the servitude zone area, the market value of the land, the owner's lost income and the diminution in value of the burdened plot are all quantified. The result is an expert monetary valuation that can support either a negotiated agreement or a court position.
Who typically commissions the valuation? Either side: the owner of the burdened plot, the party in whose favor the servitude is created — often an infrastructure or utility operator — and, in contested cases, the parties to Ukrainian court proceedings seeking to substantiate or challenge the compensation amount.
Related services: Property rights valuation · Valuation for court proceedings · Review of valuation reports
