Decision on the Protection of Private Property Rights against Arbitrary Expropriation

Overview

Judgment No. 36-P (2019) established critical constitutional protections for good-faith ('bona fide') property buyers against state or municipal land reclamation lawsuits.

Facts

A citizen purchased a residential apartment from a private seller, verified all public property register (EGRN) records, and registered full title. Years later, municipal authorities discovered that the property had originally been fraudulently privatized decades earlier. Municipal authorities filed a lawsuit to expropriate the apartment without paying compensation, invoking statutory recovery rights under Article 302 of the Civil Code.

Legal Issue

Protection of bona fide purchasers / Municipal land disputes

Evidence

Land registry extract records, real estate sales contracts, municipal historic property logs, and civil court eviction orders.

Arguments

The property owner argued that as a bona fide purchaser relying on official state registers, expropriation without full compensation violated constitutional property guarantees under Article 35. Municipal authorities argued that public land lost through historical fraud must be returned to municipal ownership.

Judgment

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the bona fide purchaser, declaring that state/municipal entities cannot expropriate residential property from good-faith buyers without full fair market compensation.

Court's Reasoning

The Court held that citizens are entitled to rely on official state property registers. If municipal authorities fail to detect illegal transactions in a timely manner, the financial burden of administrative negligence cannot be shifted onto innocent citizens acting in good faith.

Rule / Principle Established

Protected bona fide property purchasers from uncompensated state expropriation, strengthening real estate legal certainty in Russian civil law.

Significance

Protected bona fide property purchasers from uncompensated state expropriation, strengthening real estate legal certainty in Russian civil law.

Beyond borders

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Sources & references

• Decision on the Protection of Private Property Rights against Arbitrary Expropriation, Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (2019)