Selling an apartment in Ukraine from Germany — by power of attorney

Situation

The client had been living in Germany for several years. Her apartment in Ukraine finally found a buyer, and the parties wanted to close quickly. Flying to Kyiv to sign the sale agreement was not an option.

Task

Issue a power of attorney for her lawyer in Kyiv — drafted so that the Ukrainian notary certifying the sale would accept it without objections.

How we did it

1. Drafting in Ukraine. A Ukrainian notary prepared the text in Ukrainian: the owner’s details, the apartment’s exact address and specifications, and the representative’s powers — including signing the agreement and receiving the funds.
2. Certification in Germany. The client booked a local notary appointment and signed the document. An apostille was then attached — Germany is a Hague Convention country.
3. Shipping and back-translation. The original traveled to Kyiv. We translated the German notary certificate and the apostille into Ukrainian, bound the translation to the original, and had it notarized.
4. Handover. The client’s lawyer collected the finished document and proceeded to the closing.

Result

The sale closed in Kyiv without the owner present. Around two weeks passed from first contact to the finished document — most of it spent on the German notary appointment and international shipping.

Worth knowing

• For real-estate transactions the PoA wording must be exact: an error in the address or in the powers means another round of certification abroad. That’s why starting from a Ukrainian notary’s template matters.
• In Germany, apostilles are issued by different authorities depending on the federal state — this affects timing.
• The same procedure works for gifting, renting out, or managing property from abroad.