How to sell an apartment in Cherkasy in 2026: price, documents, taxes and a safe deal

Keep this sequence in front of you; each step is explained in detail below.

• Set a market price based on similar listings, not on the figure you would like.
• Prepare the apartment: cleaning, minor repairs, good photos.
• Collect the documents before the first viewing, not after you have found a buyer.
• Work out the taxes: there is no tax on the first sale in a year of an apartment owned for more than three years.
• Lock in the agreement with the buyer: an advance or an earnest deposit, in writing.
• Sign the contract at a notary and receive the money into your bank account.
• Hand over the keys with a handover certificate that records the meter readings.

Selling at a market price starts with comparison. Open OLX listings and the catalogue of apartments for sale in Cherkasy and pick 10–15 similar options: the same district (Tsentr, Mytnytsia, Dakhnivka, Khimselyshche, Pivdenno-Zakhidnyi, Sosnivka, Kazbet, Sedova), the same number of rooms, a similar floor area, building type and condition. Work out the price per square metre for each and see where your apartment falls in that range.

Remember that listings show asking prices, not deal prices, and some buyers will always negotiate. The most common mistake is pricing well above similar apartments “to leave room for bargaining”. Such a listing gets views but no calls, buyers grow tired of seeing it, and in the end the apartment sells for less than it could have at the start. The assessed value used by the notary and for tax is a separate document, not a guide to the market price.

What raises the price: not the ground or top floor, a lift in a nine-storey block, an insulated facade, individual heating, a fresh renovation, closeness to the Dnipro, schools and public transport. What lowers it: the need for major repairs, unauthorised alterations, debts, a complicated legal history. Our article on apartment prices in Cherkasy explains in more detail how value is formed.

You do not need an expensive renovation to sell quickly: the buyer will redo it to their own taste anyway. What you need is an apartment that looks cared for and bright, without obvious problems that put people off at the photo stage.

• A deep clean, clean windows, bathroom and kitchen.
• Clear out clutter, personal photos and junk on the balcony so the space looks bigger.
• Minor fixes: a dripping tap, sockets, handles, doors that will not close, dead light bulbs.
• Get rid of smells: air the rooms, clean the textiles and do not smoke indoors while selling.
• Photos in daylight with curtains open and lights on: every room, the kitchen, bathroom, balcony and the view, plus the facade and the yard.
• An honest description: exact floor area, floor, the building's age or series, heating, and what stays in the apartment.

It is best to collect the documents before the first viewing. Buyers, especially those using a mortgage or the eOselia programme, check everything in advance, and any delay with paperwork gives them a reason to go to another seller. Ownership arises from state registration, so the notary first checks your details against the State Register of Real Property Rights.

If your ownership was formalised before 2013 and is not in the electronic Register, it is still valid, but the notary will need the paper documents and registration will take longer. Complex cases such as an inheritance without a certificate, shares owned by several people or a sale under a power of attorney are worth sorting out with a specialist before you list the apartment.

• Passport and taxpayer number of the seller, or of every owner if there are several.
• The title document: a purchase, gift or exchange contract, or a certificate of inheritance, ownership or privatisation.
• Information from the State Register of Real Property Rights: owner, shares, no mortgage, arrests or bans. You can get it in Diia or at an administrative services centre (TsNAP), and the notary will check the register again on the day of the deal.
• The technical passport: buyers and banks usually ask for it, and it shows whether the layout matches reality.
• Notarised consent of the spouse if the apartment was acquired during marriage (Family Code, Art. 65).
• Permission from the guardianship authority if a young child owns or uses the apartment (Family Code, Art. 177). Ideally no children should be registered there at the time of sale; if they are, plan the permission well in advance.
• A certificate of the apartment's assessed value from the Unified Valuation Reports Database or a valuer's report: without it the notary will not certify a deal between individuals (Tax Code, clause 172.4).
• Proof of no debts for utilities and for the homeowners' association (OSBB) or building manager: statements or recent receipts.

The tax is paid by the seller, and it often decides when selling makes sense. The rules are in Article 172 of the Tax Code, and the military levy is in clause 16-1 of subsection 10 of Section XX. Income is calculated from the contract price but not below the apartment's assessed value, and the tax is paid before the contract is notarised (clauses 172.3 and 172.5).

Do not agree to write an understated price into the contract “to save money”: the tax is calculated from at least the assessed value anyway, and it gives grounds for disputes if the deal is ever challenged.

• 0% personal income tax and no military levy if this is your first sale of an apartment (house, room or share) in the tax year and you have owned it for more than three years (clause 172.1). For an inherited apartment the three-year condition does not apply.
• 5% personal income tax plus 5% military levy if you have owned the apartment for less than three years or it is your second such sale in the year (clauses 172.2 and 167.2).
• 18% personal income tax plus 5% military levy for the third and later home sales within a year, except inherited property, which is taxed at 5% (clauses 172.2 and 167.1).
• For non-resident sellers the income tax rate is 18% (clause 172.9); check with the notary in advance whether the exemption applies.
• The 5% military levy rate is temporary: under the current Tax Code it falls to 1.5% from 1 January of the year following the third calendar year after martial law ends.

Once the buyer is ready, they make a prepayment and you take the apartment off the market. An earnest deposit (Civil Code, Arts. 570–571) binds both sides: if the buyer backs out, you keep it; if you back out, you return it and pay the same amount again. An advance is simply part of the price paid early and is returned if the deal falls through. If it is not proven that a sum is an earnest deposit, it is treated as an advance (Art. 570(2)).

An apartment purchase contract must be notarised (Civil Code, Art. 657), and a preliminary contract takes the same form (Art. 635). So the safer option is an earnest deposit in a notarised preliminary contract. It should state the price, the prepayment, the date of the main deal, who prepares which documents and when the apartment will be vacated. Only take an earnest deposit when you are sure you can have the documents ready in time: if the deal fails because of you, you will have to pay back double.

On the day of the deal the notary checks the parties' identities, the documents, the registers and the tax payments, certifies the contract and immediately registers the buyer's ownership in the State Register. Your ownership ends at the moment of that registration. The parties agree on the split of costs in advance, but it usually looks like this:

• Seller: income tax and military levy (unless exempt), the assessed-value certificate, other certificates and the apartment's documents.
• Buyer: the 1% pension levy on the contract price; those buying housing for the first time or on the housing waiting list are exempt (Law No. 400/97-VR, Art. 1(9)).
• State duty of 1% of the contract value if a state notary certifies the deal; a private notary charges an agreed fee instead. The parties decide who pays it.
• The notary's registration and technical services, at that notary's rates; ask for the amount in advance.

Apartment prices in Cherkasy are usually quoted in dollars, but the contract states the price in hryvnias, optionally with a dollar equivalent (Civil Code, Arts. 524 and 533). Individuals may pay cash under contracts that must be notarised only up to UAH 50,000 inclusive; any larger amount is transferred between accounts or deposited into an account (NBU Regulation No. 148, Section II, para. 7).

The key rule for a seller is not to hand over the keys or move out until the money has actually reached your account. A screenshot of a “payment” or a receipt from the buyer is not proof: check that the funds have arrived in your own bank. Convenient options are a transfer on the day of the deal right after signing, or a bank letter of credit, where the bank releases the money once the buyer's ownership is registered. Write the payment procedure and deadline, your account details and the handover date into the contract.

You can certainly sell an apartment on your own, but it takes time: calls, viewings, filtering out people who are “just looking”, negotiation, checking the buyer and preparing the deal. Svit Nerukhomosti takes these tasks on: we help set a realistic price based on current Cherkasy listings, prepare the listing and photos, run the viewings, check the documents and support the deal through to the notary and the payment.

To start, list your apartment for sale on the website or call +38 (093) 627-96-00. Every seller who lists a property through the website gets a code for a $100 discount on agency services when signing the contract through Svit Nerukhomosti; the terms are on the offer page.

The deal does not end with the signature. To avoid debts and disputes after the sale, take a few more steps:

• Sign a handover certificate with all meter readings and a list of the keys handed over.
• Settle the utility bills up to the handover date and tell the suppliers and the OSBB about the change of owner.
• Declare your new place of residence via Diia or at a TsNAP if you were registered at the apartment you sold.
• Keep the contract, the tax payment documents and proof that you received the money.