Buying an apartment in a new building in 2026 still carries a risk that buyers often learn about too late: the same property can be sold to several people. Ukraine already has mechanisms in place that are meant to make such schemes harder to pull off, but before signing the contract, the future owner should independently verify the property documents. We break down where and what to check so you don't end up a victim of a double sale.

Protection in New Projects: Registration Before the Building Is Commissioned

Today, protecting yourself from a double sale of an apartment has become noticeably easier — primarily for new builds whose construction started after October 10, 2022. The key difference in such projects is that the future apartments in them are registered before the building is put into operation. This means the property gets a "digital footprint" at an early stage, and any attempt to sell the same apartment to two buyers becomes technically and legally difficult.

The Portal and the Register: Two Verification Tools

The first tool is the portal of the Unified State Electronic System in the field of construction. Using the property identifier, you can check the construction documents there: information about the land plot, the construction permit, the project, and the current status of the property. On the same portal, it is important to make sure the apartment is not part of the warranty share — such apartments may not be sold by the developer until the building is put into operation. The second tool is the State Register of Rights to Real Estate. Using the registration number of the future apartment, you can see the property's area, the owner, and information about any possible encumbrances.

Older Projects: Where Protection Is Weaker

The situation is noticeably more complicated with housing in older projects, since the protection mechanism described above may be absent there. In this case, the buyer has to manually and more thoroughly check the developer's documents, the construction permit, and any possible seizures or liens on the property. It is precisely in such transactions that the risk of a double sale or the sale of encumbered housing remains the highest.

Verifying Specifications and the Role of an Independent Lawyer

Separately, it is worth checking the apartment's specifications against the documents — sometimes fraud is revealed by simple arithmetic. For example, if you are being sold an apartment on the 20th floor, but the building has only 18 floors, that is an obvious reason to halt the deal and investigate the situation. In case of any doubts, it is better to hand the documents over to an independent lawyer for review before signing the contract, not after.

Market Context: Demand for One-Room Apartments and Prices in Kyiv

These checks are all the more important because competition in the housing market remains high. According to previously published data, competition for one-room apartments in Ukraine remains at a high level: in the rental market, demand for such housing is four times greater than demand in the purchase market, and in some regions more than 40 potential tenants are competing for a single apartment. At the same time, real estate in Kyiv is not getting cheaper even despite the war: on average, one-room apartments cost around 70,000 dollars, and two-room apartments — over 100,000. The high cost of the deal makes document verification not a formality, but a mandatory step.