Putin Signs Law Confiscating ‘Ownerless’ Homes in Occupied Ukraine

The Moscow Times reported this week that Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin has signed into law a decree that any houses in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine whose owners fled during the war can be seized by Moscow.

Houses, apartments and rooms in occupied territories of Ukraine “that show signs of being ownerless property” will be deemed by the law to be the property of the regions or their municipalities.

The law states that the criteria for determining what are “ownerless” properties in occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions status will be established by the regional occupation administrations themselves, in coordination with state agencies Rosreestr and Rosimushchestvo.

Rosreestr is Russia’s “Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography”, while Rosimushchestvo is its federal agency for state property management.

According to the Moscow Times:

“The absence of information about the owner or the inability to establish ownership based on existing documents will not be an obstacle to seizure.

“The law provides for various options for using the confiscated property. It can be transferred to Russian citizens living in the occupied territories who have lost their homes ‘due to hostilities, sabotage, terrorist acts, or acts of aggression against the Russian Federation.’ These applicants must not own other suitable housing and must not be receiving payments or certificates for the purchase or construction of housing. “

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In addition, the report explained, authorities may allocate the seized properties as official housing for civil servants, military personnel, officials, law enforcement officers, teachers, and doctors.

Also on Tuesday, the chief of the UN Human Rights Committee warned that, “There are growing concerns about property confiscation by the Russian authorities in occupied territory, in violation of international humanitarian law. As of November 2025, more than 38,000 homes had been registered as potentially abandoned in occupied regions. Ukrainians reported being unable to verify the status and retain ownership of their private property, due to procedural obstacles.”