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A woman received aid for internally displaced persons for herself and her child, but is now being asked to repay 75,000 hryvnias - here's the court's decision.

Женщина получила помощь ВПЛ для себя и ребенка, но теперь ей требуют вернуть 75 тысяч гривен. Какое решение принял суд?

A woman with a child received housing assistance intended for internally displaced persons. However, she provided false information, leading to an overpayment of assistance amounting to 75 thousand hryvnias, which must be repaid. This is stated in the decision of the Kyiv District Court of Odesa, published on December 10, 2024.

The woman and her minor child are registered as internally displaced persons with the social protection department in the Kyiv district. They registered as internally displaced persons through the Diia portal on April 22, 2022, without visiting social protection authorities. The citizen claims that the registered place of residence is territorially related to the Shyrokivka territorial community. In the list of territorial communities in areas of military operations or temporary occupation, approved by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 25, 2022, No. 75 (in effect at the time of application), the Shyrokivka territorial community of the Dnipropetrovsk region was not included.

However, during the registration through the Diia portal, the woman incorrectly indicated her registered place of residence, providing only the street name with the house number and the name of the locality, without specifying the district or region. As a result, the corresponding territory allowed for the registered place of residence of the respondent to be attributed to the territory of the Shyrokivka territorial community in Mykolaiv region, which was included in the list of territorial communities located in areas of military operations or temporary occupation, approved by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 25, 2022, No. 75. These circumstances became known as a result of verification with the Ministry of Finance in August 2023.

Due to the incomplete information provided by the applicant through the Diia portal regarding the registered place of residence, housing assistance was automatically assigned to her and her child at the central level incorrectly and paid from March 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, in the amount of 5 thousand hryvnias monthly. The audit revealed that she was only entitled to receive housing assistance in March and April 2022.

The department states that the audit established that the woman lived in Odesa until early February 2024, meaning she did not actually relocate from the specified territories, which is confirmed by the following circumstances: being registered at the women's consultation of the KNP "Maternity Hospital 1" of the Odesa City Council (certificate No. 415 dated November 16, 2021, certificate No. 42 dated February 1, 2022); obtaining a passport in Odesa on November 25, 2021; giving birth to a child in Odesa on January 12, 2022; receiving a birth allowance for the child in Odesa (application for allowance dated January 31, 2022); and receiving a monetary compensation for the one-time natural assistance "baby package" according to the application dated January 29, 2022, in Odesa. Additionally, there is a record in her employment book indicating that her place of employment was in Odesa.

"Since the assistance was automatically calculated, there was an overpayment for the period from May 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, in the amount of 75 thousand hryvnias," it is stated in the case materials.

The woman claims that the territory of her registration was included in the relevant territories of possible military actions from February 24, 2022, to March 10, 2023, and that the legislation does not stipulate the necessity of relocation from these territories only after February 24, 2022, to obtain rights.

What did the court decide?

The court granted the claim. The woman is to repay the excess amount of housing assistance for internally displaced persons to the Department of Labor and Social Policy of the Odesa City Council, for the period from May 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, totaling 75 thousand hryvnias.

"The respondent's behavior during the application for housing assistance for internally displaced persons, while actually residing in Odesa and providing false information, which led to the overpayment of the allowance in the claimed amount, is not considered good faith. The court finds the claim of the Department of Labor and Social Policy of the Odesa City Council justified, thus the amount of overpaid housing assistance for internally displaced persons for the period from May 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, totaling 75 thousand hryvnias, is to be recovered from the citizen in favor of the Department of Labor and Social Policy of the Odesa City Council," the court emphasized.

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