Commercial Leasing Maintenance Obligations in Ukraine

The issue of technical maintenance (Facility and Property Management) in Ukraine's commercial real estate is more complex than in residential apartments. It involves servicing industrial ventilation systems, central chiller-fan coil air conditioning, fire hydrants, electrical infrastructure (transformer substations), and common areas (corridors, parking lots) of Class A business centers.

Therefore, the general legal provisions regarding "current/capital repair" (principally governed by the Civil Code of Ukraine, effective 1 January 2004) are often supplemented by a detailed and comprehensive lease agreement.

1. Legislative Framework: Capital and Current Repairs (Art. 776 CC)

Article 776 of the Civil Code of Ukraine (effective 1 January 2004) governs the allocation of repair responsibilities:

• Current repairs to the leased property are performed by the lessee (tenant) at their own expense, unless otherwise stipulated by the contract or law.
• Capital repairs to the leased property are carried out by the lessor (landlord) at their own expense, unless otherwise stipulated by the contract or law.

The B2B Practice Problem: Where exactly lies the line between "current" and "capital"? For example, is the replacement of a compressor in a central air conditioning system a capital repair by the landlord or routine maintenance? It is precisely because of these nuances that disputes often arise in Commercial court.

2. Status of the Commercial Code of Ukraine

The Commercial Code of Ukraine ceased to be in effect on August 28, 2025. Commercial contractual obligations are now governed by the Civil Code of Ukraine and relevant special legislation.

3. Modern Corporate Practice (OPEX and Service Fees)

In new and high-class Business or Logistics Centers in Ukraine, conflicts surrounding repairs are addressed through a systemic approach. The Landlord typically assumes technical maintenance of infrastructural systems (outside the leased premises).

But they do not do this for "free." Instead, they levy a separate Operational Expense Payment (OPEX - Operating Expenses or Management Fee) on all commercial tenants, which is added monthly to the base rental rate (sometimes adding from $3 to $10 or more per square meter extra).

The Landlord's zone of responsibility (funded via tenants' OPEX payments) typically includes:

1. Payment of the commercial real estate tax and land tax beneath the building.

2. Round-the-clock physical and cyber security of the overall building, video surveillance, and access barriers.
3. Clearing snow from the roof, cleaning and repairing common halls, restroom zones (if shared), lobbies, and parking facilities.
4. Servicing (service contracts) of industrial elevators, fire suppression systems (sprinklers), and water booster pumps.
5. Removal of industrial waste (within baseline norms) and the maintenance of building generators and fuel tanks (critically relevant since 2022).

Tenant Space Responsibility: As soon as you, as a business client, step into the leased area "behind your glass or metal doors," the entire internal ecosystem—broken windows, smashed outlets, a torn-off fire sensor, or changing the carpeting (fit-out)—becomes 100% exclusively your financial and legal burden of current repair.

4. "Improvements" (Fit-out) and Inseparable Changes (Art. 778 CCU)

A particular catastrophe for the B2B sector involves "Inseparable improvements" (the tenant's investments into the building). Retail chains (like restaurants) physically cannot operate in bare concrete walls ("shell and core"); they invest up to $2,000 per sq.m. creating floors, ducting ventilation systems, and altering components (Capital Fit-out).

Article 778 of the Civil Code of Ukraine addresses improvements to leased property:

• Separable improvements may be removed by the lessee at the end of the lease term, provided such removal does not cause damage to the leased real estate.
• Inseparable improvements are those that cannot be removed without causing damage to the leased real estate. If a new thing is created as a result of inseparable improvements made with the consent of the lessor, the lessee becomes its co-owner. The lessee's share in the right of ownership corresponds to the cost of their expenses for improving the thing, unless otherwise established by the contract or law. The lessor must pay the lessee compensation for any improvements made with the lessor's consent, unless otherwise agreed by the parties in the lease agreement or a supplemental agreement.

Market Practice and Compensation: In practice, most professional mall or office contracts contain a "massive waiver of claims regarding compensation for improvements." Therefore, commercial law firms demand so-called "Rent Holidays" (Rent-free periods) from Landlords. The tenant enters a concrete object, builds it out for 3 or 6 months, and pays zero base rent during this time, thereby "recouping" their investments.

The Landager digital property management platform is specifically tuned for aggressive and complex B2B facilities (Business Parks or Warehouses). The control panel allows the company owner to flexibly split a corporate client's monthly invoice into the "pure base rental rate," transparent "OPEX (operational) fees," and variable custom invoices based on industrial hot water and electricity meter readings (Service Charges). Furthermore, the "Maintenance Triage" module enables tenants to instantly dispatch photo work orders, which the system automatically identities and routs to the corresponding zone of responsibility: "burnt-out bulb in lobby" (dispatch to in-house duty electrician for OPEX-covered fix) versus "shattered lock on tenant’s glass door" (issue the tenant a Bill Back for repair or reject it due to their own liability for internal current maintenance).

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