President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko returned to the Verkhovna Rada the Housing Code of Ukraine adopted by it with his proposals. \n \n The head of state emphasizes the need to adopt a new Housing Code, necessitated by the socio-economic conditions of society's development, the transition to a market economy and modern standards of public life, but notes that the Housing Code adopted by the Parliament on July 7 cannot be signed for a number of reasons. \n \n"One of the main shortcomings of the Code is the inconsistency of certain of its provisions with the Constitution of Ukraine and inconsistency with the Civil Code of Ukraine," the President's Proposals state. \n \nThe right to housing is defined by the Fundamental Law of Ukraine as one of the fundamental constitutional rights of citizens, the Proposals of the Head of State state. At the same time, to ensure this right by the state, a fundamentally new approach has been established, according to which the state creates conditions under which every citizen will be able to build housing, acquire it as property or rent it. \n \n"The Housing Code of Ukraine, which has been submitted for signature to the President of Ukraine, does not ensure the implementation of these programmatic constitutional provisions, to a significant extent retains outdated approaches to solving modern problems, and is not an integral act of housing legislation built in accordance with constitutional provisions," the document states. \n \nThe President's Proposals provide a number of examples where certain provisions of the Housing Code do not comply with the Fundamental Law and the Civil Code. \n \nIn particular, paragraph 8 of part one of Article 4 of the Code stipulates that housing legislation regulates relations regarding the provision of housing to citizens who need social protection and social guarantees regarding payment for such housing. At the same time, Article 47 of the Constitution of Ukraine provides for the provision of housing to citizens who need social protection, not only for a fee affordable to them, but also free of charge. \n \n"The provisions introduced by the Housing Code on the approval by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of grounds for eviction from youth housing complexes (part three of Article 44), on the possibility of eviction from a dormitory by decision of the administration of an enterprise, institution, organization (part three of Article 80) also do not comply with the Constitution of Ukraine, while under part three of Article 47 of the Constitution of Ukraine no one may be forcibly deprived of housing except on the basis of law by a court decision," the Proposals state. \n \nThe prohibition on owners of private housing to carry out any repair work in the housing belonging to them that violates load-bearing structures, to restrict the possibility of inspection and access to engineering networks, also appears to be inconsistent with the constitutional right of everyone to possess, use and dispose of their property (part one of Article 41), the document says. "Proceeding from the requirements of part seven of Article 41 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Code should not prohibit the owner of private housing from resolving certain issues if necessary, but should establish an appropriate procedure for resolving them that would exclude the possibility of harming the rights of other citizens and the interests of society," the Proposals state. \n \nAccording to the Proposals, certain provisions of the Code are also inconsistent with certain Laws of Ukraine, in particular: "On Social Services," "On Social Adaptation of Persons Who Have Served Sentences in the Form of Restriction of Liberty or Imprisonment for a Certain Term," "On Protection of Childhood," "On Ensuring Organizational and Legal Conditions for Social Protection of Orphan Children and Children Deprived of Parental Care," as well as with the recently adopted Law of Ukraine "On the Fundamentals of Social Protection of Homeless Citizens and Neglected Children." \n \n"The proposals contain only the most fundamental remarks regarding the concept and content of the main provisions of the Housing Code of Ukraine, which give grounds to consider that the Code, due to numerous defects, contradiction with the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, and significant restriction of the constitutional rights of citizens, is unacceptable," the document states. Proceeding from this, the Head of State proposes to reject the Housing Code of Ukraine adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and instead ensure the development of a new draft law that would fully comply with the Constitution of Ukraine and the modern needs of society. \n \n \n \n