City Council ignores proposal to extend lease? The Supreme Court recalls how tenant can exercise his pre-emptive right

The land user’s right to extend the contractual relationship with the landlord is subject to protection in accordance with special provisions of the land legislation, in particular, part 6 of article 33 of the Law of Ukraine "On Land Lease".

This was brought to the attention of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, considering case No. 908/299/18, concerning a dispute between the enterprise and the city council on the renewal of the land lease agreement. The text of the relevant decision recently appeared in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

The City Council, which ignored the tenant’s offer to renew the land lease for servicing the beach with the organization of free access for citizens, believed that the procedure for changing the contract with the enterprise needed to be implemented in accordance with the requirements of civil and economic legislation.

The Supreme Court referred to the grounds for the renewal of the land lease agreement, established by Part 6 of Art. 33 of the Law: if the tenant continues to use the land after the expiration of the lease and if within one month after the expiration of the contract there is a letter notifying the lessor of an objection of the renewal of the land lease, such contract is considered renewed for the same period and the same conditions that were provided for by the contract.

In this case, the courts established that the plaintiff adhered to the procedure for notifying the lessor of his intention to exercise the preemptive right to conclude a contract for a new term by submitting a draft supplementary agreement fifty days before the contract expires, duly fulfilling his duty upon notification to the lessor of his intentions to renew it. In addition, the plaintiff continued to use the land after the expiration of the contract. At the same time, the City Council did not provide a timely (within a month) response to the enterprise’s letter of notification of consent or refusal to renew the land lease agreement.