DISTRICT COURT: A LOT OF TENANTS – NOT GOOD

As part of the bankruptcy case of a citizen (No. A41-38780/18), the debtor applied to the court for the exclusion of a land plot and a residential building from the bankruptcy estate, justifying his claim by the fact that the disputed real estate is the only housing for the debtor and his family members.

The courts of two instances, satisfying the requirements, rejected the objections of the manager about the excess area of the disputed housing, since 7 people (including the debtor) were registered in it, who were moved by a citizen after the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings for objective reasons: the marriage of the debtor's son, the birth of a granddaughter, the death of the breadwinner.

The cassation sent the dispute for a new consideration, pointing out the need to check a number of circumstances.

Based on the definition of the concept of "family member" in housing legislation, according to which virtually any person can be understood as such, even in the absence of family ties with the owner of the property. At the same time, the specifics of the competitive process prescribes the use of increased standards of proof, including when considering disputes about the exclusion of real estate from the bankruptcy estate.

In this regard, the cassation noted that the courts did not give a reasoned answer to the question of attributing all persons registered in the debtor's house to his family members.

The court, in relation to resolving the issue of the only suitable housing in the framework of the bankruptcy case, did not give a reasoned answer to the question of attributing the mother, brother and sister-in-law to the debtor's family members, did not investigate the question of where the said relatives of the debtor's daughter-in-law previously lived, whether they were settled by the debtor as members of his family.