Apartment seized for debts: in Kyiv a pensioner lost the apartment, which is now being sold with a UAH 800,000 markup

The debt has reached about 800,000 UAH

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18 Jun 2026

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In Kyiv, the apartment of a 76-year-old pensioner, Ivan Berestetsky, was sold due to unpaid utility bills. This was reported by OBOZ.UA.

The apartment is about 41 sq. m, located at Roman Shukhevych Avenue, 26 in Kyiv. According to the publication, the pensioner had not paid for utilities for years. He was also billed, among other things, for flooding and water losses in the building.

The article notes that the man did not have a working meter, so the building-wide water losses may have been charged to him for years. As a result, the debt to the housing cooperative “Kharchovyk-4” amounted to about UAH 800,000.

Fourteen (14) enforcement proceedings were opened against Ivan Berestetsky. All of them, according to journalists, related to the debt to the housing cooperative that operates in his building.

The apartment was put up for electronic auction on SETAM, where seized property can be purchased by auction participants. The winner was 30-year-old Dmytro Berehovyi; he won the auction with a bid of UAH 1,028,000.

Later the same apartment, which was purchased at the auction, was listed for sale on OLX for UAH 1.8 million. In other words, the difference between the auction purchase price and the new asking price in the ad is approximately UAH 800,000.

According to journalists, the pensioner’s belongings were removed from the apartment; only the refrigerator remained. The flat is being sold without renovation, with old furniture and an outdated interior.

Representatives of the State Enforcement Service told journalists that they sympathize with the pensioner, but the enforcement officers were obliged to carry out the court’s decision.

Representatives of the State Enforcement Service described the moment they entered the pensioner’s apartment.

“The state enforcement officer came with the State Emergency Service to break down his door. When they went in, the grandfather cried. He said, ‘What have you done?’. He was worried that now he would have to live without a door.”

The SES also noted that they do not know whether the pensioner fully understood that his apartment had already been sold. According to OBOZ.UA, Ivan Berestetsky was later found in a hospital.

The new owner of the apartment, Dmytro Berehovyi, told journalists he is not selling the property. According to him, his children were supposedly going to live in the apartment. At the same time, the OLX listing was posted by an account of the real estate company perfectteam.ua.

Journalists also note that Dmytro Berehovyi previously had a registered sole proprietor (FOP) with the main activity listed as “Real estate agencies,” and his profile is still posted on a specialized resource for realtors. According to OBOZ.UA, the man owns more than 10 budget-segment apartments.

SETAM emphasized that the platform only publishes listings about the sale of seized property, and does not determine the starting price or prepare the lot.

The CEO of SETAM, Roman Osadchuk, explained the company’s position regarding responsibility for the sale of property.

“SETAM is, essentially, a newspaper. I think this answer will finally put all the dots over the ‘i’. We are an information platform.”

According to Osadchuk, the starting price of the property is set not by SETAM but by the party that puts it up for sale. In the case of a forced sale of an apartment, this is done through the enforcement service with the involvement of an expert appraiser.

When asked how an apartment of over 40 sq. m in Kyiv was appraised at approximately UAH 1 million, SETAM said that the appraisal is the responsibility of an expert engaged by the State Enforcement Service.

This story caused significant public resonance because, formally, the entire procedure could have been carried out within the law, but in practice an elderly person lost their only home due to utility debts, courts and enforcement proceedings.

At the same time, it is important to understand: utility debts do not disappear on their own. If a person ignores charges, court orders, summonses and enforcement documents for years, the case can lead to the seizure and sale of property.

But this situation exposes another problem — how protected is a lonely elderly person who may not have a lawyer, family, support, or the ability to fully defend themselves in court?