IF THE LEASED ITEM HAS NOT BEEN TRANSFERRED, THE ADVANCE IS REFUNDABLE

IF THE LEASED ITEM HAS NOT BEEN TRANSFERRED, THE ADVANCE IS REFUNDABLE

IF THE LEASED ITEM HAS NOT BEEN TRANSFERRED, THE ADVANCE IS REFUNDABLE
The lessee appealed to the court with a claim for recovery of unjustified enrichment. In substantiation of the claim, the plaintiff pointed to the fact of transferring to the lessor an advance payment, which should have been sent to the seller as payment for the leased item.

At the same time, the leasing object was never transferred to the lessee, in connection with which he filed a claim for the recovery of the unprocessed advance.

The courts of three instances rejected the claim with reference to the fact that the circumstances under which the leased item was not transferred by the seller did not depend on the lessor, and therefore there are no grounds for returning the advance transferred by the lessee.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation sent the dispute for a new review and pointed out the failure of the defendant to exercise due diligence when concluding a purchase contract with the seller and paying for the goods.

In addition, the court interpreted against the defendant the terms of the general conditions for concluding financial lease (leasing) contracts, according to which the amount of the advance corresponds to the amount of the lessor's expenses, which the lessee is obliged to compensate.

Thus, the Supreme Court once again recalled the essential importance of entrepreneurial risk in the framework of leasing relations and the inadmissibility of justifying one's own imprudence by the terms of the contract to evade responsibility.

 

Photo: Freepik


26.05.2023