PROPERTY VALUATION UNDER MARTIAL LAW: LEGAL REGULATION OF DETERMINING DAMAGE AND LOSSES CAUSED BY THE ARMED AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to characterize the legal regulation of property valuation under martial law, to clarify the place of professional valuation in the national and international mechanisms for determining and compensating for the damage caused by the full-scale invasion, to identify the key problems of wartime valuation activity, and to formulate proposals for improving the relevant legal regulation. Methods. The methodological basis of the study consists of dialectical, formal-legal, system-structural and comparative-legal methods, as well as methods of analysis and synthesis, applied to national legislation and instruments of international organizations. Results. The two-level – international and national system of legal mechanisms for compensation for the damage caused is characterized, and it is shown that property valuation is a cross-cutting element of both levels. The basic national act in this sphere is analyzed in conjunction with the legislation on property valuation and national valuation standards; it is established that the sectoral methods adopted for its implementation are inconsistent with each other and with the basic valuation legislation and inherit its terminological defects. The compensation mechanism for damaged and destroyed real estate objects is studied, and it is proven that in it professional valuation is replaced by a normative-formula calculation, which is a manifestation of a broader trend of algorithmization of determining the value of property. Specific problems of wartime valuation activity are identified: limited physical access to objects, forced application of assumptions and remote methods, deformed markets, destruction of documentation. Conclusions. A systematic revision of sectoral methods under the coordination of the state regulator of valuation activity, the development of a special national standard for the valuation of property damaged or destroyed as a result of hostilities, the introduction of mandatory review of reports on public property objects, and the harmonization of national methods with international valuation standards are proposed.