More than 4,000 residential properties have been declared ownerless in occupied Mariupol and M...

More than 4,000 residential properties have been declared ownerless in occupied Mariupol and Melitopol

The register of ownerless real estate in Mariupol includes 3,879 apartments and houses, according to published resolutions by the city’s occupation administration and orders from its leadership analyzed by Verstka.

Most of them, 3,254, were declared “ownerless” before the adoption of a law abolishing the need for a court decision on the matter. How many of them were ultimately recognized as municipal property is unknown.

Another 625 properties were declared ownerless after December 2025. That was when a “DPR” law was adopted under which an apartment or house automatically becomes municipal property after being entered into the register, and a court ruling is no longer required.

One more order, to which Verstka obtained access, mentions another 152 unique residential properties in Mariupol. The document was not published — which means that the total number of “ownerless” properties is higher than the available statistics show.

On the website of Melitopol’s occupation administration, Verstka found another 176 residential properties declared ownerless from July through November 2025.

Read on Verstka’s website about who may lose their home in the occupied cities and whether there is any chance of getting it back (with a VPN):

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Verstka

“I have no homeland and no flag left.” How the authorities declare housing ownerless in the occupied territories

Apartments can be sealed with residents inside, and getting them back from municipal ownership is extremely difficult