Natural persons as participants in the agricultural land market

Abstract

The article carried out a systematic analysis of legislative amendments in the field of market circulation of agricultural land, identified legal problems of acquiring ownership of agricultural land plots by natural persons (citizens of Ukraine, foreigners, stateless persons) and substantiated ways of solving them. The law designates citizens of Ukraine as potential participants in the land market for commercial agricultural production, since in accordance with Art. 13 of the Constitution of Ukraine, land is the object of ownership of the Ukrainian people, and the rights of the owner are exercised on its behalf by state authorities and local self-government bodies within the limits of the Constitution of Ukraine. Foreigners and stateless persons, i.e. foreign natural persons, may act as subjects of land rights, however, the peculiarities and limitations established by the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine should be taken into account.

According to the provisions of the current legislation, agricultural lands inherited by foreigners and stateless persons are subject to alienation within a year. Thus, foreign natural persons can act as subjects of land rights. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities that characterize the legal status of foreigners and stateless persons, as well as the restrictions established by law regarding these persons in the field of land relations.

The author proposes to legislate the obligation of a person who owns a plot of land for agricultural purposes to alienate this plot within a year, if the Ukrainian citizenship of such a person has ceased (except in cases of forced acquisition of citizenship of the Russian Federation by citizens of Ukraine). In addition, a provision should be added to the land legislation that would prohibit the purchase of a plot of land by any citizen of Ukraine on the basis of the principle of "as-is" or for the purpose of further resale.

The author comes to the conclusion that the legislator should ensure the functioning of the agricultural land market with transparent and fair competition of natural persons - subjects of domestic agribusiness, creating conditions to prevent violations of the legislation on the circulation of agricultural land.